New vaccine needed for deadly Australian strain of Japanese encephalitis, scientists say

Scientists have called for a new vaccine to combat the deadly strain of mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) that killed seven people in Australia during 2022.

Researchers at QIMR Berghofer have finished a two-year study of the virus sub-type that broke out in Australia that year.

The study underscored the strain's potential to cause fatal brain infections and established technologies to test new vaccines to protect Australians.

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Senior research officer Dr Daniel Rawle and research officer Dr Wilson Nguyen found the strain's impact on the brain was consistent with the seven deaths during the unprecedented 2022 outbreak.

The deaths came from a total of 44 confirmed human cases across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Published online in the newly established Nature Publishing Journal (npj) Viruses, the research found that miniature human brain organoids were destroyed when infected with the virus.

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The research also looked at blood samples from individuals vaccinated against the virus and found that while it did offer protection against the new Australian strain, more work was needed to tailor a new vaccine specifically to fight it.

"The more a virus mutates and the more it deviates from established vaccine targets, the less optimal the vaccine responses are likely to be," Rawle said.

"This is why COVID-19 and influenza vaccines are continuously updated, a process that may be needed for JEV."

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Rawle said there were no targeted treatments for JEV, and brain infections were particularly difficult to treat.

"A vaccine would be a key defence against a disease with potentially fatal consequences," he said.

The researchers are now using the recent tools they've developed to test new vaccines against Japanese encephalitis, after receiving a five-year Medical Research Future Fund grant for mRNA vaccine development and a donation from the Brazil Family Foundation.

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