Tick-borne encephalitis in a 3-month-old child

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis has not been reported in infants younger than 12 months of age. We report a 3.5-month-old child with a serologically proven tick-borne encephalitis. The infant had a history of a tick bite 3.5 weeks before the first symptoms of encephalitis appeared. The family lives in an endemic area of the disease. There were no prodromal signs and the course of the disease was monophasic. In an endemic area, prophylactic treatment with hyperimmunoglobulin after a tick bite should be considered even in very young infants, but in most children active immunization is probably not necessary because of infrequent exposure. Active immunization is still recommended after the 1st year of life.

Severe tick-borne encephalitis in Slovenia in the years 2001–2005: Time for a mass vaccination campaign?

“…The severity of TBE progressed with age, although severe encephalitis in pre-school children has been reported [17,18]. TBE is especially severe in patients aged above 60 [19].…”

Tick-borne meningo-encephalitis in a 6-week-old infant

“…In the western parts of Europe including Switzerland, TBE is caused by the western subtype of the TBEV, belonging to the flaviviridae and transmitted predominantly by infected ticks (Ixodes ricinus) in endemic regions [2]. To our knowledge this is the youngest patient with TBE [2,3,5]. Although TBE in a 3.5-month-old girl has been reported, the incidence of TBE is lowest in children <3 years of age [3,4,5].…”

“…To our knowledge this is the youngest patient with TBE [2,3,5]. Although TBE in a 3.5-month-old girl has been reported, the incidence of TBE is lowest in children <3 years of age [3,4,5]. In children, TBE manifests most commonly as meningitis and runs milder than in adults without or only with transient meningo-encephalitis [2,4,5].…”

“…Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in infants is extremely rare [3,4,5]. We report a 6-week-old girl with tick-borne meningo-encephalitis demonstrating that TBE virus (TBEV) has to be considered as a causative agent of meningo-encephalitis in infants in endemic areas.…”

Tick-Borne Encephalitis (TBE) Vaccination in Children: Advantage of the Rapid Immunization Schedule (i.e., days 0, 7, 21)

“…3 TBE disease can be seen in all age groups, 4 including infants. 5,6 In Germany, between 1981 and 2000, 11.4% of reported TBE cases occurred in children below 12 years of age. 7 About 20% of human TBE cases reported in Switzerland between 1998 and 2003 occurred in children below 16 years of age.…”