Tick-borne encephalitis

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is the medically most common tick-borne viral disease in Europe and Asia.

The TBE virus (TBEV) is a member of the family Flaviviridae.

Transmission mainly to humans occurs by ticks of the Family Ixodidae, mainly the castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus) in Europe and the taiga tick (Ixodes persulcatus) in Asia. Rarely TBEV is also transmitted by contaminated milk of infected ungulates (goat, sheep, cow).

The clinical course of TBE is variable and may range from subclinical to fatal encephalomyelitis. Probably host and viral factors are involved in the pathogenesis of disease.

So far, no specific treatment of the disease is available.

The only effective prevention of TBE is vaccination. A number of different vaccines are available worldwide. In Europe two vaccines are licensed which contain inactivated European subtype TBEV.

Probably the European vaccines protect also against infections with other subtypes of TBEV.