History of U.S. military contributions to the study of viral encephalitis.

The viral encephalitides represent 15% (9 of 62) of the infectious diseases identified by the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center as being of U.S. military operational importance. Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, West Nile fever, rabies, St. Louis encephalitis, and Murray Valley (Australian) encephalitis are included on the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center threat list. This article reviews the U.S. military contributions to the prevention and control of the first seven of these.