Australia reports 2nd death amid growing Japanese encephalitis outbreak

By Islamuddin Sajid

ANKARA (AA) – New South Wales (NSW) on Wednesday became the latest Australian state to confirm a death caused by the Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus, the country’s second fatality amid an ongoing outbreak.

Autopsy reports have confirmed that a 70-year-old man who died in a Sydney hospital on Feb. 13 had the disease, the NSW Heath Ministry said in a statement.

The virus, which can cause serious inflammation of the brain, has now been detected in four Australian states, according to a report by public broadcaster ABC News, with authorities advising people to protect themselves from mosquitos.

“There are now three known cases of JE in NSW residents, including two cases announced previously, a man and child, who are currently being cared for in Victorian hospitals,” said the ministry.

It said several people in the state are “undergoing further testing … and more cases are expected to be confirmed over the coming days and weeks.”

JE is a mosquito-borne disease that cannot be spread from person to person, a virologist was quoted as saying in the ABC News report.

The insects can only pick the virus up from animals and birds, and cannot transmit it by biting an infected person and spreading it to another, said Jody Peters, a virologist at the University of Queensland.

Besides NSW, at least seven cases of the virus have been found in the neighboring state of Victoria, where the first JE fatality was also confirmed last week.

South Australia has four confirmed and six suspected cases, while one infection has been detected in Queensland.

In these four states, cases have been confirmed in animals in at least 21 pig farms, ABC News reported.

About one in four cases of JE are fatal, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Most people infected with JE do not have symptoms or have only mild symptoms. However, a small percentage of infected people develop inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), with symptoms including sudden onset of headache, high fever, disorientation, coma, tremors and convulsions,” reads an entry on the US CDC website.​​​​​​​