Vaccination against Japanese encephalitis in the Torres Strait

Abstract

Three cases of Japanese encephalitis (JE) occurred among residents of Badu Island in the Torres Strait in early 1995. Although this was the first recognised outbreak of locally acquired JE in Australia, there were subsequent indications that JE was widespread at that time throughout the outer Torres Strait islands. Strategies to minimise the risk of future cases of JE in the Torres Strait were implemented. As a number of these strategies would take time to implement, vaccination of the population of the outer islands of the Torres Strait before the 1996 wet season was recommended. Vaccine was ordered, and mobile teams, each vaccinating seven communities in the area, administered the vaccine. Several clinics were established to vaccinate people who had temporarily moved away and those moving to the outer islands. JE vaccine was administered to 3,440 people. The vaccination achieved high levels of uptake, with 93% of those who commenced the series receiving two or three doses. Ongoing surveillance using sentinel pigs on the islands is in place to detect further incursions of the JE virus into the Torres Strait.