Japanese Encephalitis Virus Surveillance in U.S. Army Installations in the Republic of Korea from 2021 to 2023

Japanese encephalitis is a disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and is a concern for U.S. military personnel stationed in the Republic of Korea (ROK). The recent literature reports a potential shift from GI to GV as the dominant genotype circulating in east Asia. In the ROK, GV has been reported in a few <i>Culex</i> spp., but not in the main JEV vector, <i>Cx</i>. <i>tritaeniorhynchus</i>. The goal of this surveillance was to shed light on the current knowledge of the epidemiology of JEV in the ROK by analyzing mosquito collection data from three consecutive years, 2021-2023, and molecularly detecting and genotyping JEV in all <i>Culex</i> spp. collected in several military locations across the ROK. In this study, we detected only JEV GI in <i>Cx</i>. <i>tritaeniorhynchus</i> in 2021 samples. In contrast, all 2022 and 2023 positive samples were GV and detected in <i>Cx</i>. <i>bitaeniorhynchus</i>, <i>Cx</i>. <i>orientalis</i>, and <i>Cx</i>. <i>pipiens</i>. Results support a shift in JEV genotype in the ROK and suggest that for GV, <i>Culex</i> spp. other than <i>Cx</i>. <i>tritaeniorhynchus</i> may be playing an important role.