Hendra virus has been confirmed in a dog on an infected property near Macksville, New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

"This follows the death of a horse from the virus on the same property on July 4, 2013," NSW Chief Veterinary Officer Ian Roth said. "Samples from the dog were sent to the Department of Primary Industries’ Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute for laboratory analysis and results (returned July 19) confirmed the hendra virus.

"It is most likely that the dog caught the virus from the infected horse following close contact," Roth continued. "The dog was sampled by a local private veterinarian and the Senior District Veterinarian from the local Livestock Health and Pest Authority as part of routine monitoring of the quarantined property."

Roth said the dog, along with two other remaining horses, and two other dogs, previously tested negative to the first round of testing on July 6. A cat was assessed as low risk and not sampled