There are seven cases of Japanese Encephalitis in Australia the first for decades.
This a virus found in birds and transferred by mozzies to people, horses and pigs.
It was first observed on several pig farms. The wet weather has significantly increased the number of mozzies about.
Bruce isnât there a vaccine for this? The worst version of tick borne encephalitis is the one you cannot vaccinate against, more common in Europe I recall. I once felt quite worried when we went on a trek where it was prevalent, you only need a tick to fall on you from a tree and go down your shirt. They advise long trousers and long sleeved tops if walking in areas affected but that is difficult when itâs high summer. Itâs either encephalitis or the more common and also devastating Lyme disease.
Isnât Lymes disease often because you have tried to remove an infected tick but end up leaving itâs head embedded? This easily happens when people try to get Ticks off their dogs incorrectly and donât get the head/mouth out, then the dog gets infected.
Itâs caused by an infected tick bite as far as I know, whether or not the head stays in. I think they fall off when they are full? The way you remove the tick does affect how much infected fluid it vomits into the skin. Some advocate burning which is a no no as that leads to more fluid as they die, the universally agreed correct way is using tweezers, but yes you have to be careful to get the head out. Only a small % of ticks have Lyme and a smaller % have encephalitis. This is what I know from anxiety-induced research 15 years ago! The best thing is to avoid getting bitten by covering up in forested areas or just avoiding places where the levels of disease are high. I think I even had a test for Lyme disease once because I used to do so much hiking in wild areas.
Yes, true they fall off when full, but you then the little blighter lives on to infect someone else.
All very well to wrap up and protect ourselves from these critters, but no so easy for our dogs when walking in forests.
You can buy special tick remover tools for this, as tweezers can squeeze and burst them.
You are supposed to twist the tick first to release their grip, hence the little âVâ shaped tool to slide either side of the body rather than âpinchingâ them.
I suppose these little gadgets would do the same for humans as well?
I just knew there was a very good reason Iâm supposed to avoid the pig 
@Mups , An old trick if you smoke , is to touch the hot end of the cigarette
onto the tick, which will then release itself and drop off!
Another is to smear some vaseline or similar over the arse of the tick
which will also cause it to release as a tick breathes through its arse
for obvious reasons !!
No chemicals required but a. bit of patience is required for pets !
Donkeyman! 
Yes dogs would be at risk, particularly short haired dogs as with the long haired I guess you can brush them after a walk and the tick would take time to get through a dense coat (I hope)
I read a lot about these tools back then and their use seems controversial Mups. Whether they are any better than tweezers is debatable (not by me but by the âlearnedâ internet community). Iâve read about the vaseline tip DM mentions but owner instinct would be to get the dratted thing off the animal as fast as possible rather than look for a magnifying glass and q tip 
@Mups , of you can manage to get a pair of tweezers located onto a tick
then you will have no trouble using a cigarette end or vaseline! There is no
hurry to get the ticks off, the idea is to not leave the buggers head in
the animal , l have tried all methods and l found that the tweezers were
the most cumbersome, even using your fingers was easier as long as you
held the tick as close to the animals skin as possible and gave them a
twist as you pulled .
I found the cigarette was the quickest but l used a glowing twig from off
the barbeque, as l donât smoke !
We had 7 dogs that were always out in the forest so you can imagine the
performance getting them all together ??
Donkeyman!
Ooooer! I see l got Annie and Mups mixed up!! Sorry!
What about if you just cover the whole thing in vaseline so it drowns in the goo?
I wondered what you were on about for a minute there Donkeyman - itâs yer age! 
I donât agree with either the Vaseline, nor the fag end DM, sorry, as someone not as gifted as you is very likely to burn the dogs skin with a cigarette. How would you fancy me putting a red hot dog end on your scalp?
I have read the Vaseline idea doesnât work either.
Mostly what would worry me with that idea is not knowing where the thing had dropped off. I would rather know for sure it was definitely disposed of, not free to crawl off elsewhere.
I do agree with Annie though, and I would want a tick removing as soon as I saw it.
No, it purely a mozzie borne disease as I understand it. In most people it has little effect but occasionally it causes fatal brain swelling.
However on the subject of ticks - the easiest way to remove ticks is with SkinTag or wart remover spray. Give them a couple of bursts, they freeze and after a few seconds can be brushed off. Ticks can cause paralysis and/or an allergy to meat if not removed correctly.
I always carry some spray in my car (along with a bandage for snake bites) The methods mentioned so far are so old fashioned as to defy belief.
Bruce did you say there was a vaccine for this? Is this a vaccine resistant strain? I am sure I remember a vaccine when I went for travel vaccs.
@AnnieS , of course it would ! And l was told that parrafin works also
but l have never tried it ?
Donkeyman!
@Bruce ,. Yes you are right Brucy, ticks are off thread, l donât know how we
got there ??
I will leave you to impart your knowledge on the japanese whatsitcalled !
Donkeyman!
Apologies chaps, my fault. 
I mentioned tick-borne encephalitis - my bad
Everything I know about was in the news report in message prior to yours. Personally I am much more concerned about Ross River Fever than Japanese Encephalitis. It is just the large numbers of mozzies caused by the wet summer - they need water to reproduce.
In NSW there is no law about clearing pools/containers of water unlike other places. (usually as a Health and Safety issue)
