Toddler dies after being bitten by a mosquito as a tropical disease takes another life
- A toddler has died from a mosquito-borne disease
- Murray Valley encephalitis is on the rise in cases
- Last February, a woman in her 70s died of the disease
A toddler has tragically died after contracting a mosquito-borne virus that has health authorities on edge.
The baby from the Big Rivers area, 200km south of Darwin, became infected with Murray Valley encephalitis after being bitten by a mosquito earlier this month, the NT Health Department said Thursday.
The horror virus, endemic to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, can cause a rare deadly ‘brain infection’.
Three others have also died in the Top End this year from MVE, including a Darwin woman in her 70s.
The disease is a rare but potentially deadly disease with no vaccine, while the only preventative measure people can take is to avoid mosquitoes
There is no vaccine and the only preventative measure people can take is to avoid mosquitoes.
Tests at the Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory found that mosquitoes carried the virus in Tennant Creek and as far away as Alice Springs.
Nina Kurucz of NT Health’s medical entomology said the rise in cases could be due to monsoon storms bringing disease-carrying birds to the region.
“This year, for some reason, there’s more MVE virus in the environment…but mosquito numbers haven’t been higher, they’ve been low,” Ms Kurucz said. NT News.
She added waterfowl in the area, as egrets are known to carry the virus.
“People who have not been exposed or live in an area where the virus is endemic are more vulnerable, for example young children,” she said.
“There’s still a risk until all the water bodies dry up, so we’re letting people know that the virus is out there and can be deadly, and has been deadly in some cases.”
Most people infected with the disease develop no symptoms or if they do, they are only mild – with one in 800 people developing a serious infection.
But Ms Kurucz advised those in the area to cover up and warned that the mosquitoes that are spreading are more active after sunset, at night and in the early mornings.
