The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved IXIARO, a vaccine to prevent Japanese encephalitis (JE) which is caused by a mosquito-transmitted virus found mainly in Asia. IXIARO will be the only vaccine for JE available in the United States. In Asia, JE affects about 30,000 to 50,000 people each year, resulting in 10,000 to 15,000 deaths. JE is rarely seen in the United States, with very few cases reported among civilians and military traveling from the United States to Asia. The virus that causes JE affects membranes around the brain and mild infections can occur without apparent symptoms other than fever and headache. In people who develop severe disease, JE usually starts as a flu-like illness but can worsen, causing high fever, neck stiffness, brain damage, coma, or even death. The disease is transmitted via infected mosquitoes; it is not spread from human to human. IXIARO is a second-generation JE vaccine, in that it is  manufactured using cell culture technology. IXIARO is manufactured by Intercell Biomedical, Livingston, U.K.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2009/NEW01981.html