HWN Suggests

Japanese Encephalitis – rare does not mean never

The disease is all over Asia... Of those who get sick, about one-third die, one-third recover, and one-third are left with brain damage.

Japanese Encephalitis is preventable by vaccination. In ‘at-risk’ areas the vaccine is often given to children, but visitors have no such protection. The disease is rare but catastrophically bad, and because it is caused by a virus, it is very hard to treat. Medical science can only give supportive care and hope the body and the brain recovers by itself. Once you get sick – the odds are not great. JE is ( of course) not mentioned in the glossy tour brochures. This is a ‘rare’ disease, but ‘rare’ does not mean ‘never’.

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Featured

 Japanese Encephalitis : Understanding The Prospects And Facts

The majority of those who contract the Japanese encephalitis virus have either no symptoms or mild, transient symptoms that are frequently mistaken for the flu. However, as the infection spreads to the brain, approximately one in every 250 people infected with Japanese encephalitis develops more severe symptoms. After infection, this often occurs 5 to 15 days later.

 Japanese encephalitis could have a new transmission route in pigs

New finding could explain the "overwintering" of this mosquito-borne virus.

 Japanese encephalitis in Australia now and forever?

The great unknown is whether Japanese encephalitis virus can establish, or already has established, itself in cycles of transmission involving Australia’s uncontrollable, feral pig population.

 What happens when you don’t recover from Japanese Encephalitis?

As many as 30% of Japanese encephalitis patients are expected to die. Of the survivors, only a third are likely ever to return to full health. The rest live with consequences that range from personality shifts to intellectual disability to seizure disorders; blindness to motor deficits.

Articles of Interest

All you need to know about Japanese Encephalitis

Japanese encephalitis, also known as JEV, is a mosquito-borne disease that originated from waterbirds as its natural host with its first outbreak in Japan in 1871. JEV mostly infect pigs and horses but can also be transmitted to humans. The only transmission method to humans is by a bite of an infected Culex species mosquito as the disease cannot be transmitted between people or animals directly, nor by eating pork of a pig that was infected.

Am I at risk of Japanese encephalitis?

Travel health experts recommend taking a two-pronged approach to preventing Japanese encephalitis. The first step you should take is to get vaccinated against JE. This needs to be done well before you travel – for maximum effectiveness the JE vaccine, known as Ixiaro, should be given in two doses four weeks apart, and the last dose should be given at least a week before you are exposed to Japanese encephalitis.

Can CRISPR Stop Japanese Encephalitis Transmission?

This is probably the last thing you need to hear right now, but it looks like Japanese encephalitis is making a comeback. Detected in parts of Australia early in 2022, the appearance of this mosquito-caused illness was likely fueled by an extended spell of wet weather in key parts of that country.

Japanese encephalitis

Although considered by many in the west to be a rare and exotic infection, Japanese encephalitis is numerically one of the most important causes of viral encephalitis worldwide,

Resources

Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine

Inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine (manufactured as IXIARO) is the only JE vaccine licensed and available in the United States. This vaccine was approved in March 2009 for use in people aged 17 years and older and in May 2013 for use in children 2 months through 16 years of age. Other JE vaccines are manufactured and used in other countries but are not licensed for use in the United States.

IAMAT

Japanese Encephalitis is a viral infection caused by RNA viruses belonging to the Flavivirus genus. It is a zoonosis – an animal disease that can spread to humans – primarily transmitted by evening biting Culex mosquitoes that feed on infected birds, pigs and other mammals passing the infection to humans living and working in rural areas around rice paddies and irrigation systems.

Radiopaedia

JE is caused by the JE virus, a single-stranded RNA flavivirus. Domestic pigs and wild birds are reservoirs for the virus, which is spread by mosquitoes. It is prevalent in India, Southeast Asia and East Asia.

StatPearls

Japanese encephalitis is the most common preventable cause of mosquito-borne encephalitis in Asia, Australia, and the western Pacific. The Culex species of mosquitoes transmit the virus with their bite. Transmission occurs most commonly in agricultural areas such as farms and rice paddies but may occur in urban areas under certain condition