Queensland's Primary Industries Minister will consider further funding for an independent review over the handling by his department, of a Hendra virus outbreak that killed a senior vet on Wednesday.
The review will be conducted in conjunction with the Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin today promised to re-assess the $60 million budget allocated to the research centre over seven years, in order to accelerate Hendra research.
Comprehensive studies will be carried out which will hopefully unlock the disease's secrets.
"A complex investigation of the Hendra disease cases and their causes is already being carried out by an expert veterinary epidemiologist team," Mr Mulherin said.
"(But) we will work...to identify what needs to be done to accelerate Hendra research."
Past president of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Dr Diane Sheehan said: "Australia needs to increase funding to research emerging diseases such as Hendra...the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the US is an excellent example'"
"(Otherwise) an outbreak of a zoonotic disease (like Hendra) that infects Australians on a wide scale is a real possibility."
However, Queensland senior vet Dr Ron Glanville today praised the Vet Dr Ben Cunneen who died in the Princess Alexandra Hospital on Wednesday night.
He is the third Queenslander to die from the disease and the sixth to be infected.
In humans, Hendra virus develops with flu-like symptoms and spreads through the neurological system to affect the brain.
Queensland senior vet Dr Ron Glanville said it was most important to examine the source of the deadly virus.
"The real focus of the research really needs to be to better understand how it gets out of bats into horses," he said.
He said Dr Cunneen's death would change the methods vets use to handle sick horses.
"We will now be more aware of the clinical signs of Hendra."
Despite Dr Cunneen's death, the State Government has ruled out screening every horse for the disease, saying it is not necessary.
The Redlands clinic remains under quarantine pending the outcome of more tests.
Commercial considerations might prevent a vaccine for the fatal Hendra virus reaching the market, the chief veterinarian said.
Initial research has been completed at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong in Victoria and further work has been done in Atlanta in the United States, Dr Glanville, told reporters.
He said a vaccine, however, was still not available, despite millions of dollars spent on research since trainer Vic Rail died in the Brisbane suburb of Hendra in 1994.
Scientists suspect fruit bats are a natural host of the Hendra virus, because the animals were common to both Mackay and Brisbane at the time of the 1994 outbreaks.
Tests have shown it is possible for grey-headed fruit bats to become experimentally infected with HeV, but scientists cannot demonstrate the disease being transmitted from the bats to a horse.
Follow-up studies show 20-50pc of three species of flying fox carry the Hendra virus antibody.
This strongly suggests these species of flying fox are natural hosts of the Hendra virus.
However, current research suggests that flying foxes do not pass it directly to humans, based on tests with 130 people who work closely with flying foxes.
Meanwhile, owners have been warned to move horse feeding troughs away from trees where fruit bats nest.
It appears bat urine and droppings could be a likely carrier of the virus in such areas.
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