Flying foxes are spreading to parts of Australia where they have not been found before, bringing with them the risk of the deadly Hendra virus, a Victorian vet says.
Barry Smyth is one of more than 1000 veterinarians in Brisbane this week for the Pan Pacific Veterinary Conference.
Dr Smyth joined calls for governments to fund further research into a possible vaccine against the virus.
He said a candidate vaccine has been developed at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong.
"They think there's a good chance that it might work in horses, but we don't know. That's why we need to do the extra research down there to trial this vaccine in horses," Dr Smyth said.
"What's slowing it down at the moment is that extra $600,000 is yet to be made available.
"If that were able to be made available, obviously, things could get on at a much faster pace."
He said the vaccine could be proven effective or otherwise within 18 months.
Hendra virus is certain to concentrate minds at the conference: of the four people who have died from Hendra virus, two were vets, one was the husband of a vet and the fourth was horse trainer Vic Rail.
"It's sort of at the pointy end of our attention because of the involvement of veterinarians in suffering from the virus," Dr Smyth said.
The virus is also a potential danger to everyone who has contact with horses.
Dr Smyth said a growing concern was the increase in flying foxes in Victoria. The bats are believed to pass the virus to horses, which then transmit it to humans.
"We're also finding them now in places where we never ever saw them before. They've even recently turned up in Adelaide, and they've never been in Adelaide before."
In the latest outbreak, a infected horse with the virus was put down at a property in Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast.
Nine people had contact with the diseased animal. Six have been cleared in preliminary testing, while the other three will learn of their status on Monday.
Queensland opposition leader John-Paul Langbroek on Sunday called on the state government to make funding the vaccine research a priority.
