Now, when medico attends a virus strain? (6)

I believe the answer is:

hendra

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'virus strain?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'now when medico attends a' is the wordplay.
'now when' becomes 'hen' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'medico' becomes 'Dr' (synonyms).
'attends' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'hen'+'dr'+'a'='HENDRA'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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