Japanese encephalitis symptoms

Woman sitting on an orange couch. Jackie Monk's husband is in hospital with the Japanese encephalitis virus. (ABC News: Nadia Daly).

"I don't think he has any idea of where he is or what is going on. "He is such a wonderful husband. Life can go on," Ms Monk told 7.30. "David had achy joints. "The water provides habitat for the birds that are a reservoir of the virus, and the mosquitoes that spread it from the birds to pigs and potentially the people." A spokesperson for the Health Department told 7.30 vaccinations were part of the response to the virus and people in affected regions with "direct exposure or close proximity to pigs and mosquitoes and high-level occupational exposures" would be offered vaccines as an initial priority. "As the weather cools here in Australia, mosquito populations will decline, and the risk of transmission will decline with that," he said. "Once they get here, if conditions are suitable, you get a domino effect of infected waterbirds and mosquitoes spreading the virus in southern areas of Australia." The company that runs the piggery declined to comment, however, a spokesperson for the Australian pork industry told 7.30: '"Industry has been working closely with governments to prioritise the safety of staff and the welfare of the animals. "There have been occasional detections of the virus in mosquitoes or pigs in far northern Australia, but it's really been a rare occurrence up there, and certainly not been an issue in other parts of Australia," he told 7.30. He is now in a critical condition with "a very severe form of the virus". The wife of a man fighting for his life in a Melbourne hospital is urging others to be aware of the early signs of the mosquito-borne virus that took weeks to diagnose.