Queensland scientists are confident a treatment for Hendra Virus will not produce negative side effects as they gear up for human clinical trials.
There have been 52 cases of Hendra - 38 in Queensland and 14 in NSW - since 1994, killing four of the seven Queenslanders who contracted it.
US researchers produced an antibody which, by chance, worked to combat Hendra and granted their Australian counterparts access.
A monoclonal antibody has since been used on compassionate grounds in 11 human cases - 10 of which were exposed to an infected horse - and none developed the virus.
"What we do know though is it's highly effective when it's been tested in animal models," trial supervisor Dr Geoffrey Playford said on Wednesday.
"What this trial is about is looking at healthy humans, to make sure it doesn't cause any toxicity or side effects."
Researchers need 40 volunteers to take part in clinical trials, expected to begin this month and run for 11 months.
Participants will be split into eight groups to be exposed to incrementally higher volumes of the antibody.
There is a high confidence the treatment is safe, according to QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute director, Professor Frank Gannon.
"It's important to say there is no Hendra virus involved in this trial," he said.
Dr Playford said plenty of work done had been done on animals before the antibody was given to the 11 patients.
"That work showed no safety signals," he said.
He said it was a matter of weighing up the risk of inaction.
Those exposed to Hendra have a 25 per cent chance of catching the virus and, if infected, face a 50 per cent mortality rate.
But Dr Playford stressed the treatment was a third pillar of defence against human infection.
He said vaccination for horses and infection control measures must come first.
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