Experts expect many TBE infections this year
Published: Tuesday, Feb 20th 2024, 14:01
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Experts are expecting many infections with the tick-borne disease TBE this year. The ticks are now active all year round due to milder winters, they explained at a media conference at the University of Hohenheim (Germany) on Tuesday.
The situation regarding tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) also remains tense in Switzerland, according to a press release on the occasion of the South German Tick Congress starting next week.
There have already been the first infections this year, reported Ute Mackenstedt, parasitologist at the University of Hohenheim. "With a lead time of four weeks until diagnosis, the infection must have taken place in the middle of winter - so ticks no longer have a winter break and the TBE incidence is shifting forward."
In addition, it has recently been observed that a high number of TBE cases have been reported every two years and not, as in the past, every three years. This is also to be expected in 2024.
Trend points upwards
Overall, the number of TBE infections in Germany - as in Switzerland - fell last year, according to experts, but this is merely a kind of outlier. The general trend is clearly pointing in a different direction. "These figures are deceptive," explained Rainer Oehme, Head of Laboratory at the Baden-Württemberg State Health Office, at the event. "Infection figures are always subject to annual fluctuations, but the longer-term trend is clearly pointing upwards," emphasized the expert.
TBE is an inflammation of the meninges or brain caused by a virus that is transmitted by tick bites. There is a vaccination against it.
The experts also warned on Tuesday of a high number of unreported cases. They referred to the results of a study by microbiologists at the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich. They examined the blood of blood donors using new methods for antibodies caused by unrecognized infections. According to the results, infections in the region were seven times more common than previously assumed.
©Keystone/SDA
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