Border residents and visitors alike need to take precautions to avoid serious virus

It's four days of taking it easy, of perhaps enjoying time with family and a good time to regroup in readiness for the looming cooler months.

One of the biggest worries, of course, is safety on our roads, as so many people pack up the car to travel to their favourite holiday haven or to see family.

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But aside from that, eating too much chocolate is one of the few standout hazards - though something many of us, especially the kids, are happy to wear.

However, this year there is the added, genuine concern about the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis, which the experts say has become more widespread.

Given we are already well into our Easter holiday period, this is something that we all need to be fully aware of in the here and now.

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That is especially the case with the recent spell of mild to warm days and, significantly, the fact that many Border and North East communities live either beside or not far away from rivers and lakes.

The risk posed to residents and travellers alike by this virus have been made abundantly clear in a study published by the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Put simply, many people were likely to face exposure to the virus for the first time, having flocked this holiday weekend to the Japanese encephalitis-affected regions of northern Victoria - taking in Lake Hume and Lake Mulwala - and right along the Murray River.

As co-author and Victorian deputy chief health officer Deborah Friedman says, the study is "a timely reminder that mosquito-borne diseases are circulating in Victoria".

The numbers are notable - three per cent of people in affected areas have been inflected, with the sobering fact that about one in 100 people will develop an illness - including, in some cases, a serious infection of the brain.

But equally noteworthy is the fact that prevention - such simple steps as covering up and using insect repellent - plays a significant role in preventing anyone from being bitten and catching this virus.

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