Germany-wide tick-risk TBE now also in northern Germany a growing danger

Transmitted by ticks: Researchers report TBE infections in northern Germany

Last year, around 500 people were diagnosed with TBE disorders nationwide - more than in over ten years. The dangerous disease, which is transmitted by ticks, continues to spread to northern Germany, according to researchers. An infection is also possible through raw milk.

Carriers of dangerous diseases

Health experts repeatedly point out the importance of protecting yourself from ticks. The small bloodsuckers can eventually transmit dangerous infectious diseases such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). The latter occurred in the past almost only in some regions of southern Germany. But researchers now point out that FSME is also increasingly found in the north of the Republic.

In the past year, so many people in Germany have contracted FSME, as they have not done for over ten years. The tick-borne disease continues to spread to the north of the republic. (Image: Marco2811 / fotolia.com)

As many diseases as no longer

Last year, almost 500 people were diagnosed with TBE disease - more than in over ten years. The University of Hohenheim points to this in a press release.

Accordingly, 85 percent of the cases occurred in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Bavaria reported with 239 cases of illness the highest number since the introduction of the obligation to register by the Infection Protection Act IfSG in 2001.

The clearest increase in cases of illness has occurred along the Alpine ridge. In contrast, the number of cases, for example, in Lower Franconia in 2017, significantly decreased.

In Baden-Württemberg, too, the number of illnesses in 2017 was unusually high. With 186 cases, however, it is still below the record years of 2011 and 2006 with over 210 and 288 cases.

Disease spreads to the north

At the same time, the hot spots, i. the regions where TBE disorders are more common.

"Some counties that have reported illnesses for years have remained completely unremarkable in the past year. In others, for the first time and for the most part, the disease was particularly frequent ", reported Prof. Dr. med. Ute Mackenstedt, parasitologist at the University of Hohenheim.

In addition, the disease spreads to the north. "The statistics show us completely new hot spots in Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin. For the very first time, we even receive disease reports from the Netherlands, "says Mackenstedt.

New ticks species in Germany

According to the experts, the danger posed by new types of ticks in Germany is currently still difficult to assess.

Parasitologists of the University of Hohenheim and virologists of the Institute of Microbiology of the German Armed Forces and the University of Leipzig first came across the TBE virus in 2016 in the ever-infested European wood-throats (Dermacentor reticulatus).

In the same year, the tick researcher Dr. Chitimia Dobler from the Institute for Microbiology of the Bundeswehr, Munich, the cooperation partner of the University of Hohenheim on a new species in Germany - Ixodes inopinatus - which has probably migrated from the Mediterranean.

"It is still unclear how long this species is native to Germany and whether she is eligible as a TBE transmitter. It would also be important to clarify whether it did not bring new diseases to Germany, such as the Mediterranean fever, "said Prof. Dr. med. Mackenstedt.

Weather could be partly responsible for the high number of illnesses

One reason for the high number of illnesses in 2017 could have been the weather.

"In summer 2017 there was a big cold spell. Two weeks later it got very warm and two weeks later there was a big outbreak, "said Prof. Dr. med. Mackenstedt.

"Presumably, that was because after the cold days, it was massively floating people at the time when the highest seasonal activity of Ixodes ricinus was occurring as the most common tick species."

Overall, the abundance of phenomena - new species, changing hot spots and annually fluctuating numbers of diseases - increasingly puzzling research.

Reliable TBE protection only by vaccination

Against TBE, a vaccine is available. The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) and other health professionals recommend vaccination coverage to people who often spend time outdoors in TBE risk areas.

Also for people working in the nature like forestry workers or farmers as well as for tourists, who travel in TBE risk areas abroad, a vaccination makes sense.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) offers on its website an overview of TBE risk areas in Germany.

The doctor PD. Dr. Gerhard Dobler from the Institute for Microbiology of the German Armed Forces in Munich and the National Consortium for TBE warned against underestimating the disease:

"Serious illnesses include paralysis, coma, seizures, healing of defects and occasionally deaths." Both adults and children are equally affected.

In contrast, the vaccine against FSME almost 100 percent effect, complications were extremely rare with 1.5 cases in one million vaccinations. Nevertheless, only about 20 percent of the population in Germany are vaccinated.

Infected raw milk carries a particularly high risk of disease

At the same time, the vaccine also protects against a special type of TBE infection: that caused by raw milk, especially grazing animals.

"In 2016, a case made headlines where two people fell ill after consuming raw milk cheese from goat's milk," said Prof. Dr. med. Mackenstedt. "Last year, 8 people fell ill with goat's raw milk."

The tick expert reported in a statement: "For the first time in this case, we were able to examine the carriers (ticks), the host animals (goats), infested foods such as goat's milk and raw milk cheese and the diseased persons."

In fact, the risk of disease after eating TBE-infected raw milk is three times higher than after biting infected ticks:

"Out of 100 people bitten by infected ticks, the disease breaks out in 30 people. In infected raw milk, we observe the disease outbreak in 100 out of 100 people ", says Prof. Dr. med. Mackenstedt.

In the 1950s, TBE diseases caused by infected raw milk were therefore comparatively frequent. However, the pasteurization of milk makes the so-called "alimentary TBE" more of a marginal phenomenon today.

In light of the increasing popularity of raw milk, the experts emphasized that people who consume raw milk products in a risk zone for FSME need to be vaccinated against FSME.

However, this does not protect against other diseases transmitted by raw milk. The milk should therefore always be boiled before drinking. (Ad)