Emergence of locally acquired Japanese encephalitis virus in Australia, January 2021–June 2022: a national case series
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.005Keywords:
emerging diseases, infectious diseases, Japanese encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis virus, flaviviruses, mosquitos, AustraliaAbstract
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito borne RNA virus belonging to the genus Flavivirus. In Australia, JEV cases have been limited to small, localised outbreaks, or overseas acquired cases imported from travel to JEV endemic countries. On 4 March 2022, the JEV outbreak was declared a ‘Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance’ (CDINS) as human cases of JEV were confirmed in south-eastern Australia for the first time. This paper describes the epidemiology of human JEV cases reported in Australia during the period between January 2021 and June 2022.
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