Australia battles spread of 'potentially deadly' Japanese encephalitis virus

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.

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.

More extreme rainfall events have brought greater numbers of mosquitoes 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 per cent 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.

Australian states confirming Japanese encephalitis infections included New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, which had never before reported locally-acquired infections.

Queensland, also impacted by the spread, had previously only reported one case.

Japanese encephalitis is a common cause of viral brain infections in Asia, said New South Wales public health pathology director Dominic Dwyer.