Brisbane horse outbreak unlocked the bat spillover puzzle

A 1994 outbreak of Hendra virus in Brisbane horses, with human infections, revealed a bat-borne zoonosis in which flying foxes were the reservoir and horses acted as amplifying hosts. The investigation linked spillover to ecological disruption—habitat loss and urban bats moving closer to people—showing, over decades, how habitat change drives disease emergence and how winter flowering of eucalyptus could lure bats away from farms to prevent spillovers. The work helped establish the ecological basis for preventing bat-to-human infections rather than relying solely on medical interventions.