Thirty years on he is still living with the effects of the mosquito-borne disease. Mr Miller is fearful many more Ballarat residents will live with the effects of the virus as medical authorities warn of a surge of cases.

Since January 1 this year 19 cases of the virus have been reported in Ballarat with a total of 89 reported cases in the Grampians region. 

Symptoms for Ross River virus include fever, headaches, aching muscles joints or fatigue. Symptoms occur between two and 14 days after the mosquito bite.

“It took about 15-20 days to manifest itself. I had body sweats to the stage that I had to change pyjamas and bedding three times I night,” Mr Miller said.

He contracted the virus while working at the Wannon River between Halls Gap and Dunkeld in 1989. Mr Miller spent a month at the Fairfield Infectious Disease hospital and was off work for two-and-a-half years.

When offered a redundancy in the 1992 Mr Miller accepted it because his ability to work had been severely depleted by the virus. 

“I had body aches, profuse perspiration. No energy whatsoever. At one stage when I had a television that didn’t have a remote I had to crawl across the floor to turn the television on,” Mr Miller said. 

“I had no ability to stand or walk … I’ve spoken to another lady who had the virus and we both said we could put down our aches and pains to old age – but we still get neck swells.” 

Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Charles Guest said there had been 1012 reports of Ross River virus across the state between January 1 and February 13. Nearly 10 times the number recorded after the last major floods.

“Recent rain and relatively warm weather has created conditions ideal for mosquito breeding and we have seen a major increase in mosquito numbers as a result,” Professor Guest said.

Residents are urged to heed advice from betterhealth.vic.gov.au.