Mosquito-Borne Diseases in Australia

Ross River virus (RRV) is an endemic, mosquito-borne pathogen that occurs all over Australia. The virus was first isolated from Aedes vigilax mosquitoes collected on the banks of the Ross River in Townsville in 1959 but it was not associated with clinical symptoms until some years later. Approximately 5,000 cases…

Barmah Forest virus (BFV) is closely related to Ross River virus. It was first isolated from Culex annulirostris mosquitoes collected in 1974 in the Barmah Forest on the Murray River but it was not associated with human disease until 1988. Little is known about the vertebrate hosts of BFV although…

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by dengue virus that is most commonly transmitted to people by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Dengue virus is not endemic (i.e., does not occur naturally) in Australia, but it may be introduced to the country from travellers returning from Asia, the Pacific, and…

Murray Valley encephalitis (MVEV) is the most serious of the endemic arboviruses in Australia with a 15-30% fatality rate. This is similar to the recently introduced Japanese encephalitis virus. Large outbreaks of MVEV are uncommon (58 cases in 1974, 17 cases in 2011, 26 cases in 2023) but individual cases…

Kunjin virus (KUNV) is related to West Nile virus and is often referred to as West Nile virus Kunjin subtype. The name Kunjin is derived from an Aboriginal clan living on the Mitchell River close to where the virus was first isolated in Kowanyama, northern Queensland, in 1960. Although only…

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a virus spread to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito. It was first detected on mainland Australia in early 2022. Prior to that, the only known locally transmitted human cases of JEV in Australia occurred in 1995 on Badu Island in the Torres…

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is emerging as a significant vector borne disease and since 2004 has caused large epidemics in many regions of the world. It occurs in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Western Pacific. People who travel to places where CHIKV occurs are at risk of infection if bitten…

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital malformations. Infection is also associated with other complications of pregnancy including preterm birth and miscarriage and an increased risk of neurologic complications including Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy and myelitis. Zika virus is primarily transmitted…

Malaria is caused by single-celled parasites of the Plasmodium genus. It is spread from human to human by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The disease is widespread in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and is most devastating in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, an estimated 219 million cases of…

Dog heartworm (caused by Dirofilaria immitis) has been an increasing veterinary problem in recent decades. Humans can rarely become infected, but heartworms do not usually complete their lifecycle in people. Human infections are uncommon and generally not serious. Heartworm disease in cats is very different from heartworm disease in dogs….