AN Ipswich vet said dog owners shouldn’t panic despite the discovery of the potentially lethal Hendra virus in a family pet at Mt Alford, about 60km south of Ipswich.

Dr Scott Campbell said there were a still a lot of unanswered questions about the virus, which appeared in the two-year-old pet kelpie belonging to a family which has already seen three of its horses infected.

But he said unless a dog had been in close contact with infected horses, it appeared unlikely to pick up the virus.