The virus was found in 1994 and has never been seen outside Australia since its discovery in Hendra, a Brisbane suburb. There have been only a dozen outbreaks, but the virus has proved lethal to horses and to humans caring for them. About 70 percent of the horses infected have died, and so have three of the six people known to have caught it from them — a veterinarian, a farmer and a prominent horse trainer, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
