Australia battles spread of Japanese encephalitis

Previously confined to the tropical north, since late February Japanese encephalitis has travelled as far south as South Australia -- infecting a total 16 people with two confirmed deaths, according to state health authorities.

AFP

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Sydney, Australia

Fri, March 11, 2022

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Culex pipiens, a common mosquito species, is seen through the microscope of Matthew Vanderpool, environmental health specialist and entomologist for the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness on August 25, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. Vanderpool specializes in mosquito control, a public health process that involves placing traps to collect specimen, identifying various mosquito species, and testing the samples for mosquito-borne diseases. Lab technologists test for Saint Louis encephalitis, West Nile virus, La Crosse encephalitis, and Eastern equine encephalitis. (AFP/Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Australia said Friday it is buying extra vaccines to fight the potentially deadly, mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus, which has spread down the flood-hit east coast for the first time.

More extreme rainfall events have brought greater numbers of mosquitos to eastern Australia, one scientist said, as the country battles higher temperatures blamed on climate change that mean the atmosphere holds more moisture.

There is no specific treatment for the disease, which is spread only by mosquito bites.

Fewer than one percent of people infected may develop a serious illness such as encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain tissues, Australia's federal health ministry said.

Symptoms include neck stiffness, severe headache and coma, and "more rarely, permanent neurological complications or death", it warned.

Australia's health and agriculture ministries said the government would invest Aus$69 million (US$51 million) on control measures including vaccines and improved surveillance.

The vaccines -- Imojev produced by Sanofi-Aventis Australia and JEspect made by Seqirus -- are to be targeted at people working close to mosquitoes and to pigs, which are vulnerable to infection.