Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (formerly Human Vaccines)
February 2014  Volume 10, Issue 2
http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/vaccines/toc/volume/10/issue/2/

Review
Japanese encephalitis: The virus and vaccines
Sang-Im Yun and Young-Min Lee http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.26902

Abstract 
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an infectious disease of the central nervous system caused by Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a zoonotic mosquito-borne flavivirus. JEV is prevalent in much of Asia and the Western Pacific, with over 4 billion people living at risk of infection. In the absence of antiviral intervention, vaccination is the only strategy to develop long-term sustainable protection against JEV infection. Over the past half-century, a mouse brain-derived inactivated vaccine has been used internationally for active immunization. To date, however, JEV is still a clinically important, emerging, and re-emerging human pathogen of global significance. In recent years, production of the mouse brain-derived vaccine has been discontinued, but three new cell culture-derived vaccines are available in various parts of the world. Here we review current aspects of JEV biology, summarize the four types of JEV vaccine, and discuss the potential of an infectious JEV cDNA technology for future vaccine development.