“…The main amplifying hosts for ticks are thought to be small rodents (Süss, 2011). However, ixodid ticks in addition takes blood meals from birds, some of which are migratory and therefore might spread the infected tick population further to new territories across geographical barriers, creating new foci of infection (Hasle, 2013;Hasle et al, 2009;Jaenson et al, 2012;Mikryukova et al, 2014;Waldenström et al, 2007). Latvia has been among the countries with the highest rates of TBE cases for many years (Kunze, 2013).…”