Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a specific type of viral brain infection that is spread through mosquito bites (2). According to the CDC, “JE is a single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the genus Flavivirus and is closely related to West Nile and Saint Louis encephalitis viruses” (9). Generally speaking, this disease is found mostly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Even though contracting Japanese encephalitis is rare, travelers have the potential to contract this infection if they do not take the proper precautions (1). The disease is commonly found in areas where flooding irrigation is used. In southeast Asia, this includes rice fields where there is a lot of standing water and wading birds. Many of these areas are located near pig farms (4). Pigs are one of the natural reservoirs for the JE virus.
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Image from: https://www.cdc.gov/japaneseencephalitis/maps/
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