Can I Get Ross River Disease In Sydney?
The chances are small. Within Sydney there are none of the animals (such as kangaroos) that act as the major host for the virus. However, there are known mosquito vectors present and with infected people returning from country areas where the virus is present, it is possible that human-mosquito-human transmission (normally the cycle is animal host-mosquito-human) may occur, although this has never been documented. Occasionally outbreaks of Ross River virus occur on the fringes of major cities, where both mosquito vector and animal hosts occur together, and this has happened in Perth, Brisbane, and in Sydney in the summer of 1996-97.
