Japanese encephalitis virus

Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JE)
Scientific classification
Phylum: Flaviviridae Genus: Flavivirus Species: Japanese encephalitis virus

General information and Symptoms

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a virus that infects the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord. It may range from mild to acute infection. Mild Symptoms include flu-like illness that may include:

• Headaches
• Agitation
• Feeling tired
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Chills
• Fever

A severe infection symptoms may include mild symptoms as well as:

• Rapid onset
• Stupor
• Disorientation
• Coma
• Tremors
• Occasional convlusions (occurs more often in infants)
• Spastic paralysis
• Flaccid paralysis (occurs in rare instances)

As the infection progresses without treatment it may reach an acute level in the brain. When such a high level of infection occurs in the brain there are serious side affects which include moderate brain damage ,varying degrees of paralysis as well as seizures and death.

Transmission and Epidemiology

Japanese encephalitis virus is considered an arthropod virus called an arbovirus. The vector that spreads this arbovirus is a mosquito.The Culicine mosquito from the genus Culex are responsible for many diseases such as Dengue fever, Yellow fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, as well as the Japanese encephalitis. Their eggs are laid in still water that is either clean water or contaminated with organic waste. These eggs are also resistant to dessication for several months. The first reported suspicion of JE was within the last century and first documented in horses as well as humans in Japan, which explains the origin of it's name. The virus was first isolated from human brain tissue in rabbits in 1924. The specific species of Culex mosquitos linked to the JE virus is the Culex (Cx) tritaeniorhynchus

Pathology

Japanese Encephalitis is antigenically linked to several other flaviviruses and belongs to the family Flaviviridae. An Antigen is a substance that causes that causes the body to illicit an immune response such as the production of antibody through the introduction of a foreign substance such as a virus or bacteria into the body.