Page 250 - TBE_Book_V2_2019

Chapter 12b: TBE in Belgium

Table 2: TBE reporting and vaccine prevention in Belgium
Mandatory TBE reporting None

1. A national reference center (NRC) for TBE has been established
since 2011. This center performs laboratory confirmation in
suspected human cases and reports to Sciensano.

 From 2011 to 2015: Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium
 From 2016 to 2019: Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp,
Belgium

2. Human surveillance via NRC
 From 2011 to 2015: Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium
Other TBE surveillance
 From 2016 to 2019: ITM, Antwerpen, Belgium
3. Animal surveillance (2011 to present): Sciensano, Brussels,
3-7
Belgium
4. Tick surveillance (2018 to present): ITM, Antwerp, Belgium and
Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium (2018)
Case definition as described in https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/
LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:262:0001:0057:EN:PDF. Confirmed case:
symptoms of TBE and immunoglobulin M (IgM) and/or ribonucleic
acid-positive.

Special clinical features No information available
FSME-IMMUN
Available vaccines
(Purchased from Baxter by Pfizer in 2014)

Vaccination is recommended for travelers to endemic regions doing
outdoor activities in forested areas (such as hiking, camping,
Vaccination mushroom picking, …) during tick season (spring, summer and
recommendations and autumn) and for people handling TBEV in laboratory setting.
reimbursement
Updated recommendations are awaited in 2019
(Superior Health Council, Belgium).
Vaccine uptake by age
group/risk group/general No data available.
population
Name, address/website of ITM, Antwerpen, Belgium, https://www.itg.be
TBE NRC

Note: No information available on TBVE burden or distribution as up to now there have been no TBE cases.
Also, no TBEV has been isolated to date and no autochthonous cases have been identified in Belgium.

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