{"id":726731,"date":"2026-06-10T05:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/726731\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T05:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:38:12","slug":"traveller-dies-after-contracting-murray-valley-encephalitis-in-wa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/726731\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveller dies after contracting Murray Valley Encephalitis in WA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Western Australia Health Department has confirmed one person has died after contracting a rare mosquito-borne virus while travelling in the state’s north.<\/p>\n

A department spokesperson said it was likely the adult was exposed to Murray Valley Encephalitis in the West Kimberley, about 2,000 kilometres north of Perth.<\/p>\n

It is the first reported death from the virus in WA this year.<\/p>\n

Health Department managing scientist Andrew Jardine said it was believed the person was infected in early May.<\/p>\n

“That’s where it was likely acquired and then [the person] was transferred down to a hospital in Perth, where they sadly passed away recently,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It can be a number of weeks until symptoms develop.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Andrew Jardine says anyone showing symptoms of the virus should seek medical attention. (Supplied: WA Health)<\/p>\n

“Early to mid-May would be the most likely exposure time, but that is probably indicating that there is still a virus risk there even now.”Complications rare<\/p>\n

Murray Valley Encephalitis is endemic to WA’s north and is transferred to humans through infected mosquitoes.<\/p>\n

There is no vaccine.<\/p>\n

While serious complications are rare, the disease can lead to a brain infection, potentially triggering lifelong symptoms.<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr Jardine said some people may not show symptoms at all.<\/p>\n

“It’s a strange virus in that a lot of people do get it and won’t have symptoms or very, very mild symptoms,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Quite rarely … you can get this very serious encephalitis, which is swelling on the brain that can cause brain damage or result in death.”<\/p>\n

Dr Jardine said anyone showing signs of the virus, or other mosquito-borne viruses such Japanese encephalitis, should seek medical advice.<\/p>\n

“If you get serious encephalitis, [symptoms can include] swelling, headache, but then confusion, dizziness, nausea, neck stiffness, any of that,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Murray Valley Encephalitis is spread by mosquitoes. (Flickr:<\/a> Oregon State University)<\/p>\n

Tourist surge in WA’s north<\/p>\n

As thousands of tourists make their way to northern Australia over the coming months to escape the winter, residents and travellers are being urged to protect themselves from mosquito bites.<\/p>\n

Dr Jardine said the risk of contracting Murray Valley Encephalitis was higher during and after the Kimberley and Pilbara’s wet season, but it could extend into July.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

WA Health is urging all residents and travellers to protect themselves from mosquitoes. (ABC News: Charlie Mclean)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wet season in northern WA and the period immediately after it are the highest risk time for mosquito\u2011borne virus activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

“Once you get beyond that period in the dry season, most of the mosquitoes are gone.<\/p>\n

“Even if the mosquitoes are not new ones coming through, there could be ones that have been flying around for a week or two that may have acquired Murray Valley Encephalitis that could still be infecting people for another few weeks yet.”<\/p>\n

Mosquito surveillance<\/p>\n

The Department of Health’s sentinel chicken and mosquito surveillance programs have detected the virus and other flavivirus activity since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The wet season is when the risk of Murray Valley Encephalitis is highest in northern WA. (Supplied: WA Health)<\/p>\n

The sentinel chickens are based across various locations in the Kimberley and Pilbara, with blood tests taken from the animals and sent to laboratories to test the presence pf mosquito-borne diseases.<\/p>\n

“It is a bit of a scary disease if you get it and it’s far better to just avoid acquiring it in the first place by avoiding mosquito bites,” Dr Jardine said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Western Australia Health Department has confirmed one person has died after contracting a rare mosquito-borne virus while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[352017,64,63,24513,210154,137,50883,292619,352015,226706,328085,17160,352016,45],"class_list":["post-726731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-andrew-jardine","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-broome","tag-dry-season","tag-health","tag-health-department","tag-mosquitos","tag-mossies","tag-murray-valley-encephalitis","tag-mve","tag-tourists","tag-vector-borne","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}