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Abstract
Epidemics of a severe encephalitis occurred in eastern Australia between 1917 and
1925, in which over 280 cases were reported with a fatality rate of 68%. The disease
had not been described previously and was called Australian X disease. The next epidemic
occurred in south-east Australia in the summer of 1950-51. The disease was given its
name of Murray Valley encephalitis as this was the area from which most cases were
reported. A virus was isolated by Eric French in Victoria, and about the same time
by John Miles and colleagues in South Australia. The virus Murray Valley encephalitis
(MVE) virus, was shown to be a Group B arbovirus (flavivirus) which was related to,
but distinct from, Japanese encephalitis virus. Early seroepidemiological studies
showed that the most likely vertebrate hosts were water birds. MVE virus was first
isolated from Culex annulirostris mosquitoes in 1960. The most recent epidemic of
Murray Valley encephalitis occurred in 1974, at which time it was renamed Australian
encephalitis. Since 1974, however, all cases have been confined to northern Australia,
particularly the north of Western Australia. Indeed, the Kimberley region of Western
Australia contains the only confirmed enzootic foci of virus activity. A closely related
flavivirus, Kunjin virus, has also been shown to be an aetiological agent of Australian
encephalitis. Since the first isolation of MVE and Kunjin viruses, considerable information
has been accumulated on their ecology and epidemiology, some aspects of which are
briefly described.