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The appearance of a "tropical" mosquito-borne illness in southeastern Australia has unsettled researchers
https://www.science.org/content/article/how-rains-pigs-and-waterbirds-fueled-shocking-disease-outbreak-australiaRUDE AWAKENING
The appearance of a “tropical” mosquito-borne illness in southeastern Australia has unsettled researchers
21 NOV 2023 11:05 AM ET
BY MEREDITH WADMAN
Construction supervisor Jack McCann started to feel “a bit crook”—that’s “sick,” in Australian slang—on the hot afternoon of 26 February 2022. He and some buddies had just finished laying a fireplace hearth in his backyard in Corowa, Australia, population 5500. His friends suggested a trip to the pub. McCann, then 30, told them he needed to beg off. “Usually, I would have been the first one there,” he says.
Corowa sits beside the Murray River, which in that region forms the border between the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, to the south. It’s a scenic area that draws tourists to fish, boat, and swim every summer. It’s also rich with wetlands that make ideal mosquito breeding grounds. The river slides along slowly about 300 meters from McCann’s front door.
[...]
To infectious disease physician Sam Thorburn, McCann’s headache, fever, and confusion pointed to encephalitis, inflammation of the brain. The white blood cells found in his spinal fluid were consistent with that condition. But those weren’t the only clues Thorburn had. McCann was the fourth patient in as many weeks admitted to Albury with encephalitis. Like McCann, the three others had turned up feverish and confused. One, age 46, had improved enough to be discharged. The other two, ages 61 and 75, had descended into comas and required ventilation.
A slew of tests had failed to reveal the underlying cause of encephalitis in any of the three patients. They didn’t have herpes simplex infection, a dangerous but treatable cause of encephalitis, or HIV, which can cause similar symptoms. And it wasn’t cryptococcus, a fungus that infects the brains of people with weakened immune systems.
[...]
The appearance of a “tropical” mosquito-borne illness in southeastern Australia has unsettled researchers
21 NOV 2023 11:05 AM ET
BY MEREDITH WADMAN
Construction supervisor Jack McCann started to feel “a bit crook”—that’s “sick,” in Australian slang—on the hot afternoon of 26 February 2022. He and some buddies had just finished laying a fireplace hearth in his backyard in Corowa, Australia, population 5500. His friends suggested a trip to the pub. McCann, then 30, told them he needed to beg off. “Usually, I would have been the first one there,” he says.
Corowa sits beside the Murray River, which in that region forms the border between the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, to the south. It’s a scenic area that draws tourists to fish, boat, and swim every summer. It’s also rich with wetlands that make ideal mosquito breeding grounds. The river slides along slowly about 300 meters from McCann’s front door.
[...]
To infectious disease physician Sam Thorburn, McCann’s headache, fever, and confusion pointed to encephalitis, inflammation of the brain. The white blood cells found in his spinal fluid were consistent with that condition. But those weren’t the only clues Thorburn had. McCann was the fourth patient in as many weeks admitted to Albury with encephalitis. Like McCann, the three others had turned up feverish and confused. One, age 46, had improved enough to be discharged. The other two, ages 61 and 75, had descended into comas and required ventilation.
A slew of tests had failed to reveal the underlying cause of encephalitis in any of the three patients. They didn’t have herpes simplex infection, a dangerous but treatable cause of encephalitis, or HIV, which can cause similar symptoms. And it wasn’t cryptococcus, a fungus that infects the brains of people with weakened immune systems.
[...]