Vet in hospital after Hendra virus needle accident
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A Department of Primary Industries vet is in hospital as a precaution, after being pricked with a needle while putting down a horse that had been infected with Hendra virus in south-east Queensland.
An internal investigation has been launched into the incident at the Redlands Veterinary Clinic on Friday and the Industrial Relations Department has been notified.
Six horses affected with the virus have died and two clinic staff remain in hospital.
The clinic was supposed to have been given the all clear on Sunday, but Queensland's chief vet Ron Glanville says the latest tests at the site were inconclusive and the quarantine will remain for at least another week.
"We're quite confident there's no Hendra virus left on the property but we still need to do a bit more testing on the samples we've previously collected there as well, we have collected some more samples just to clarify some issues there," he said.
"Sometimes they don't give you quite a clear cut result so we've just got to do some further tests on those samples as well as a backup, take some further samples for testing.
"We're working as hard as we can to remove the quarantine on the property as quickly as possible but we've just got to make sure we tie up all the lose ends."
