Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) have called on an area of the district to volunteer to undertake blood testing for Japanese Encephalitis with the results to direct the response to not only the rest of the area but the whole state.
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MLHD have put a call out to members of the public to come forward and get tested in Corowa, Temora and Griffith as well as two locations in the Western NSW Local Health District at Balranald and Dubbo.
MLHD Director of Public Health Tracey Oakman said the information collected from the samples will not only help with the potential transmission of the virus following outbreaks at piggeries around Young but will help with any outbreaks that pop up across the state.
The project is being run by NSW Health Director of Zoonoses at Health Protection NSW Health, Keira Glasgow who is most interested in how many people throughout the areas may have been exposed to JE in the warmer months at the beginning of the year.
"Now that the weather is cooler, mosquito activity has declined and there is currently little risk of active transmission of JE, but we still do not know why the disease came to Australia this year during our warmer, wetter conditions," Ms Glasgow said.
"Because less than one per cent of people infected with JE experience symptoms, it is likely people were infected in these areas without even knowing it.
"That's why we will be asking people who lived in specific areas of regional NSW earlier this year to help by providing blood at one of the five survey sites that will advertised locally over the coming weeks."
Ms Glasgow reiterated Ms Oakman's sentiment that the results of the samples will help NSW Health assess what potentially happened in the areas earlier this year prior to spring and summer.
"The results of the blood testing will help us understand JE infection rates, give us a clue on how long ago the virus was introduced into New South Wales, how many people were infected and the behaviours or activities associated with infection," Ms Glasgow said.
Ms Glasgow also stressed it was important only people who lived in the five towns between January and March 2022 participate, to ensure that the results are useful as possible.
According to Ms Glasgow the samples will be very useful in helping NSW Health prepare.
NSW Health is working with the NSW Department of Primary Industry, the Commonwealth Department of Health and other stakeholders to plan for such an increase as that expected in spring and summer.
In March and April, NSW Health said it added 54 new JE specific mosquito monitoring sites across Western, Southern and Northern NSW.
Mosquito surveillance ended in the second week of May 2022, once mosquito numbers had fallen.
Expanded mosquito monitoring will recommence in spring NSW Health said.
Sampling will be undertaken in Corowa next week at
The Barkman Centre (rear of Corowa Hospital):
Tuesday 21 June 9.00am - 5.00pm
Wednesday 27 June 10.00am - 7.00pm
Thursday 28 June 7.00am - 2.30pm
Dates and times for Temora and Griffith will be announced in coming weeks.