Article
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Japanese Encephalitis: Risk of Emergence in the United States and the Resulting Impact
Version 1
: Received: 10 December 2023 / Approved: 11 December 2023 / Online: 11 December 2023 (15:05:41 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Monath, T.P. Japanese Encephalitis: Risk of Emergence in the United States and the Resulting Impact. Viruses 2024, 16, 54. Monath, T.P. Japanese Encephalitis: Risk of Emergence in the United States and the Resulting Impact. Viruses 2024, 16, 54.
Abstract
Japanese encephalitis virus is a mosquito-borne member of the Flaviviridae family. JEV is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia and is characterized by encephalitis, high lethality and neurological sequelae in survivors. The virus also causes severe disease in swine, which are an amplifying host in the transmission cycle, and in horses. US agricultural authorities have recently recognized the threat to the swine industry and initiated preparedness activities. Other mosquito-borne viruses exotic to the Western Hemisphere have been introduced and established in in recent years, including West Nile, Zika, and chikungunya viruses, and JEV has recently invaded continental Australia for the first time. These events amply illustrate the potential threat of JEV to US health security. Susceptible indigenous mosquito vectors, birds, feral and domestic pigs, and possibly bats, constitute the receptive ecological ingredients for spread of JEV in the US. Fortunately, unlike the other virus invaders mentioned above, an inactivated whole virus JE vaccine (IXIARO®) has been approved by the US Food & Drug Administration for human use in advance of a public health emergency, but there is no veterinary vaccine. This paper describes the risks and potential consequences of introduction of JEV in the US, the need to integrate planning for such an event in public health policy and the requirement for additional countermeasures, including antiviral drugs and an improved single dose vaccine that elicits durable immunity in both humans and livestock.
Keywords
Japanese encephalitis; emerging virus; risk management
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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