Tick-borne encephalitis in childhood – Consensus 2004

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a communicable disease caused by a flavi-virus, ticks being the main vectors. The nervous system is affected, four clinical features of different severity are observed: meningitis, meningoencephalitis, meningoencephalomyelitis, meningoradiculoneuritis. TBE is a preventable disease, which is rapidly becoming a growing public health problem in Europe. So far no causal treatment is possible but an efficient, safe vaccination is available. During the 6th meeting of the International Scientific Working Group on TBE with the main conference issue "Tick-borne encephalitis in childhood" an international consensus was achieved. In countries where TBE is endemic--and not prevented by immunization--both children and adults are affected. The disease in children is generally milder, although severe illness may occur and even lead to permanent impairment of the quality of life due to neuropsychological sequelae. Therefore immunization should be offered to all children living in or traveling to endemic areas.

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

“…Active vaccination in Switzerland is recommended in endemic areas for children >6 years of age with considerable risk of tick-exposure. However, even an extended vaccination policy including younger children (>6 months for selected cases as in Austria) could not have prevented TBE in this patient [4]. Thus, as this young infant with TBE illustrates, exposure prophylaxis, i.e.…”

“…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.…”

“…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].…”

“…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]. The outcome of childhood TBE is generally favourable with complete recovery and no mortality [2,4,5].…”

“…In children, TBE manifests most commonly as meningitis and runs milder than in adults without or only with transient meningo-encephalitis [2,4,5]. The outcome of childhood TBE is generally favourable with complete recovery and no mortality [2,4,5]. Nevertheless, preventive measures are crucial because of recently reported rare neurological sequelae in children [1], a reported increase in incidence in Switzerland [6] and the lack of effective therapy [2].…”