The Australian Veterinary Association has reignited calls for horses to be vaccinated against the Hendra virus, after an infected pony was euthanised on the Gold Coast hinterland.
Biosecurity Queensland has quarantined the property and are monitoring another unvaccinated horse following the diagnosis of the disease, which has killed almost 80 horses and four people since it made headlines in 1994.
An AVA spokesman said it is critical that horses located in high risk areas are vaccinated against the "insidious disease".
"Vaccination is the only way to ensure high standards of horse health and welfare while also protecting veterinarians, horse handlers and owners from contracting this deadly virus," Dr Ben Poole said in a statement on Sunday.
The Hendra virus is naturally-occurring in flying fox populations and is passed to horses via the bats' urine, faeces or foetal fluids.
Humans can then catch it from horses.
The latest diagnosis follows two recent incidents where a horse show at Brookfield in Brisbane was disrupted by a suspected Hendra virus case and another at Kilkivan where the owner of a sick horse falsified horse health declaration documentation.
Dr Poole said testing for the disease takes time and can delay possible life-saving therapies.
"It's impossible for an owner of a sick horse, or their veterinarian to determine by examining it whether it has contracted Hendra virus infection," he said.
"That is why vaccination is so important."
