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SYDNEY: A small farm near horse racing facilities in Australia's third largest city was placed under lockdown Saturday following two fresh outbreaks of the Hendra virus that can be fatal if contracted by humans.
Two horses were put down after showing signs of the bat-borne virus in separate cases in Brisbane and in Hervey Bay, 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of the city, which is home to two million people.
Hendra is carried by fruit bats -- also known as flying foxes -- and spread to horses through half-chewed fruit or water and food contaminated by their urine and droppings.
Queensland chief vet Rick Symons said tests had confirmed two more cases of the virus Saturday, taking to 11 the number of horses that have died since late June in the biggest Hendra epidemic since its discovery in 1994.
No humans have yet been infected but at least 59 people have been exposed to the virus, which has swept from as far north as the Great Barrier Reef to within 500 kilometres (300 miles) of Sydney, the furthest south it has ever been seen.
Four of the seven people to ever contract Hendra have died.
Symons said the scale of the outbreak was unusual, with a five-fold increase in the number of samples sent for testing from suspected cases.
"It could be because of a heightened awareness of Hendra virus," said Symons.
"There is clearly a heightened awareness among vets and horse owners about the possibility of Hendra virus infection when a horse becomes sick."
Two properties had been sealed off following the latest outbreaks, one in Hervey Bay and a small farm in the Brisbane suburb of Boondall, just 10 kilometres from the city's thoroughbred racing precinct.
Parts of Sydney's Randwick Racecourse were sealed off this week after a Hendra scare there, and more than 100 racetracks across the country are being inspected for infection risks.
Racing Queensland spokesman Jamie Orchard said officials were on alert and urging trainers to take precautions such as covering feed and water and keeping horses indoors at dawn and dusk -- peak feeding times for the bats.
But Orchard stressed that racehorses were at relatively low risk of contracting Hendra because they were kept and fed indoors.
"The risk of a racehorse that is currently training or going to the races contracting Henda is very slim," he told AFP.
-AFP/ac
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