One of Australia's leading travel health care experts is warning Australian travellers to rural Asia of an impending shortage of the vaccine that will protect them against deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE).

Dr Deborah Mills, one of Australia's leading travel health experts, has advised that Australia is running out of Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine (JE) and it is being strictly rationed.

"The vaccine is no longer being manufactured, because a new advanced vaccine, which will involve fewer injections, is on the horizon," she said.

According to Dr Deb, the new vaccine will not be available for a number of months and in the meantime, there are only limited supplies of the existing vaccine for the Australian travellers.

With the vaccine in limited supply, it is now available only through approved travel medicine clinics, a list of which can be found on www.travelmedicine.com.au.

JE is a deadly viral disease carried by mosquitoes in Asia that causes severe brain infection, and is fatal in one third of cases; with one third of sufferers left permanently brain damaged while the remaining third make a full recovery.

The vaccine is usually recommended for travellers staying in Asian rural areas for more than one month, especially if residing in basic accommodation or doing humanitarian work.

Dr Deborah Mills, who is Australia's foremost travel medicine specialist having provided travel medicine advice to patients for 20 years, is also the author of Australia's most popular medical travel book ‘Travelling Well' which is in its fourteenth edition and has 125,000 copies in print.