Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV) emerged in the last decade of the twentieth century as the causes of outbreaks of respiratory and neurological disease that infected a number of animal species and human. In 1994, HeV caused severe respiratory disease and the death of 13 horses and a horse trainer at a stable in Brisbane, Australia. NiV appeared in the human population between September 1998 and April 1999 in Malaysia as the cause of fatal acute encephalitis, after spreading primarily as a severe respiratory disease of unknown aetiology in the pig population.
ELISA assay, for detection of specific antibodies to Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV) in animal sera.