Scientists puzzled after human JEV cases emerge in two states
Associate Professor Gregor Devine says it is hard to predict if another outbreak is looming.
The first human case of Japanese encephalitis has been reported in Australia, 18 months after the virus was declared not a major health threat.
The Federal Government ended the national emergency response for the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) outbreak in June 2023, after 45 human infections, including seven people who died.
But on 31 December 2024, Victorian health authorities announced that one ‘probable’ case of JEV had been identified — the first human case detected in Australia since the end of 2022.
The patient remains in the ICU at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne after being airlifted from Shepparton in northern Victoria at the end of last year, according to a fundraising campaign by his family.
