Increasing Incidence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis and Its Importance in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is caused by tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a virus species of the genus Flavivirus within the Flaviviridae family. In Western Europe, TBEV is transmitted primarily by the Ixodes ricinus (I. ricinus) tick. During the last 30 years, there has been a continued increase in human cases of TBE in Europe. A total number of 102 cases in Slovakia was reported in 2012 (1.89/100,000), with two local outbreaks after the ingestion of raw milk and dairy products. Active vaccination is the most effective method of preventing TBE. According to the available data in Slovakia from 2012, 8,491 children under 15 years of age were vaccinated that year, which, when compared to 2009 with approximately 17,000 vaccinated children, represents a decrease of more than 50%. The data on vaccination of adults are not available, but the estimated vaccination coverage in Slovakia is around 1% (1.3/100,000). The education of the population is also an important precautionary measure in the prevention of tick-borne illnesses.

EAN consensus review on prevention, diagnosis and management of tick‐borne encephalitis

“…The incidence of TBE in European countries including Russia is shown in Fig. 1 [1,6,12,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Austria is a country with decreasing annual incidence to 1/100 000 due to vaccination; however, the occurrence of TBE is higher in unvaccinated tourists and Austrians [3,9,37].…”

Epidemiological patterns of tick‐borne encephalitis in Lithuania and clinical features in adults in the light of the high incidence in recent years: a retrospective study

“…During 2005-2014, TBE numbers of reported cases started to increase in April-May, peaked in October, and decreased for the rest of the year, with only a small number of cases reported in December and January ( Fig. 3 Epidemiological and demographic data A total of 460 (64%) patients noticed one or more tick bites (Table 1), and 92 (13%) patients had more than one tick bite (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). The highest number of hospitalized patients was in the years 2012 and 2013.…”

Systematic literature review comparing rapid 3-dose administration of the GSK tick-borne encephalitis vaccine with other primary immunization schedules

“…TBE is endemic across Europe and Asia, and represents an underestimated health risk [1,4]. In 2010, the highest incidence rates in Europe were recorded in the Eastern states [7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and in older individuals [7,17]. European TBE vaccines, such as polygeline-free GSK TBEvac provide the only effective way to prevent TBE disease [24].…”

“…The incidence of TBE in Europe, for which reporting is mandatory in most regions, is generally stable, but tends to be higher in Eastern countries (5.3-22.0 per 100,000 population; see supplementary materials for incidence review data) [7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], in older individuals aged between 40 and 70 years [7,17] and slightly higher in men than women [10,17]. TBE has traditionally represented an underestimated health risk in most countries, and given the lack of specific treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that vaccines are the only effective method to prevent infection [22].…”