Doctor anxious after his horses in virus scare LITTLE GUY: A microbat at Australia Zoo. SEVEN people exposed to lyssavirus from an infected horse at a Darling Downs equestrian complex have been offered rabies vaccinations. It is the first time lyssavirus has been found in a horse and the first time that infection occurred from insect-eating microbats rather than the much larger flying foxes. Queensland Health staff have been at Highborne Farm near Allora on the Darling Downs over the weekend, interviewing people who may have been in contact with two ill horses that have been put down. "We are in an area that's believed to be free of bats," Dr Osborne said. He said others don't work on his property but came into contact with the sick horses at another farm north of Warwick. "It's not nerve-racking but it is concerning," Dr Osborne said yesterday. At first it was thought the horses might have the more common Hendra virus. Chief health officer Jeannette Young said human cases of lyssavirus were rare. Rabies vaccinations were 100 per cent effective with the closely related lyssavirus so long as treatment was conducted promptly. Biosecurity Queensland has quarantined the property and is contacting people who may have been with the horses up to 10 days before the animals became ill. Simply patting an animal would not be sufficient to cause infection. The number of people involved is not yet known but it is likely to be small. A colony of microbats - mammals about as big as a sparrow - lived in a stable on the property. A Cairns boy died in February as a result of lyssavirus.