Japanese Encephalitis: An overview of vaccine development

Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito transmitted disease of pigs and humans that is caused by Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV). Annually around 50,000 cases are reported from Japan and other Asian countries where the disease is epidemic. But with rapid globalization and climatic shift, JEV has started to emerge in areas where the threat was previously unknown. There is no specific treatment for Japanese encephalitis and the available treatment is supportive. Vaccination is one of the most successful methods to combat infectious diseases like JE. Different vaccines for JEV have been available for many years and their use has reduced the incidence of JE in many countries. The first generation mouse brain derived vaccines are being replaced by cell culture and inactivated vaccines. The recent focus is to develop recombinant and subunit vaccines which may overcome all the side effects of the current vaccines. The present review focuses on the latest development in vaccine formulations with different approaches reported around the world.