Hendra virus (Paramyxoviridae), that infects fruit bats or flying foxes (Pteropus spp.), may occasionally to horses from which the infection pass on to humans. Hendra virus causes acute, fatal, respiratory and/or neurologic disease in horses of all ages. Clinical signs included fever, facial swelling, severe respiratory distress, and terminally, copious frothy, blood-tinged nasal discharge. Ataxia and myoclonus may also be seen. The predominant lesion in kidney, brain, lymph nodes, spleen, liver, intestine, and lung is fibrinoid necrosis of vessels with marked segmental to diffuse vasculitis and disruption of sub-endothelial tunica intima. Syncytial endothelial cells containing viral antigen are common in capillaries and arterioles. People and dogs have been infected as spillover events from close contact with an infected living horse or with equine carcass containing the virus. Fever, cough, sore throat, headache and tiredness are common symptoms in human disease, also known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Meningitis and or encephalitis can also develop. Hendra virus infection can be fatal. Diagnosis can be accomplished by viral isolation, PCR or serology. There is no effective treatment for clinically infected individuals. A commercial vaccine licensed in Australia for horses (Equivac® HeV) prevents clinical disease in horses and could be beneficial for other animal species and eventually also for humans.