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Pathogen Page

Japanese encephalitis virus

I. General Information

1. NCBI Taxonomy ID:

2. Disease:

Japanese encephalitis

3. Introduction

Japanese encephalitis virus is a virus from the family Flaviviridae. It causes the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis. Japanese encephalitis is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia, with 30,000–50,000 cases reported annually. Case-fatality rates range from 0.3% to 60% and depends on the population and on age. Rare outbreaks in U.S. territories in Western Pacific have occurred. This disease often occurs in rural areas but not usually in urban areas. Severe rigors, fever, headache and malaise are non-specific symptoms for the first week. Signs which develop during the acute encephalitic stage include neck rigidity, cachexia, hemiparesis, convulsions, and fever. Mental retardation developed from this disease usually leads to coma. Mortality of this disease varies but is generally much higher in children (Wiki: Japanese encephalitis).

4. Microbial Pathogenesis

Japanese encephalitis virus infects the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum and rapidly accumulates substantial amounts of viral proteins.

5. Host Ranges and Animal Models

Domestic pigs and wild birds are reservoirs of the virus; transmission to humans may cause severe symptoms.

6. Host Protective Immunity

Infection with JEV confers life-long immunity (Wiki: Japanese encephalitis). For JE, both arms have been considered to be important for protection from the disease, since passive transfer of neutralizing antibodies or virus-specific T cells including CTLs can protect mice from a lethal challenge (Konishi et al., 2003).

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