Hendra virus test results still not in

Queensland authorities are still waiting on the results of testing on 37 horses to determine whether they have the potentially deadly Hendra virus.

One thoroughbred has died and another horse had to be euthanased after contracting Hendra at a Brisbane bayside veterinary clinic.

A third horse which tested positive has recovered.

On Tuesday, The Redlands Veterinary Clinic near Brisbane's bayside, was sealed off for quarantine and 37 horses at the clinic were sampled for the virus which can kill both horses and humans.

The samples were taken to a Queensland Health laboratory, a Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, spokesman said.

Queensland Health has also begun blood testing on the clinic's 25 staff but results are not expected until Monday.

"We still don't have any final results and it's kind of a day by day thing now," the spokesman said.

The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries' Biosecurity Queensland staff are still tracking down horses which have visited the clinic since Tuesday last week, so it can also take samples from them.

In 1994, Vic Rail, the trainer of former champion galloper Vo Rogue, died of a heart attack a week after being admitted to hospital with symptoms of the virus.

The virus struck, with similar flu-like symptoms to equine influenza (EI), in Mr Rail's Hendra stables, shutting down racing in Brisbane for three weeks.

One of his staff, strapper Ray Unwin, also showed symptoms of Hendra virus but recovered while a Mackay cane farmer died of the disease a year after Rail's death.

The 1994 outbreak killed 14 horses.

A further six cases have been recorded in horses since Rail's death before the latest scare at Redlands.

But Biosecurity Queensland Chief Veterinary Officer Ron Glanville said the virus was not highly contagious like EI and was unlikely to spread.