Australian X disease, Murray Valley encephalitis and the French connection

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.