As NSW recorded the latest death from Japanese Encephalitis in Australia this week, it has come to light that Queensland has also recorded a death from the disease, but at the very beginning of the current outbreak.on Thursday a person died from JEV in Queensland in February this year, but has not confirmed any other details of the patient., when the first human case was confirmed in Queensland, and have put out a handful of public health notices related to the disease since then.
“This was occurring earlier in the year, when the death occurred, which is when the public health need is present – not when the retrospective notification occurred.” There have now been five deaths from JEV in Australia in 2022 – two in NSW, and one each in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. As at May 18, there were 29 lab-confirmed human cases of Japanese encephalitis in Australia – 13 in NSW, 10 in Victoria, 4 in SA and 2 in Queensland.
After JEV was detected in one piggery in southern Queensland in early March, the Queensland department of Agriculture and Fisheries confirmed on Thursday that JEV had been detected at 17 piggeries.