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Chapter 12b: TBE in Italy

Table 2: TBE-reporting and vaccine prevention in Italy (northeastern)

Reported by Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of
Health, Italy in collaboration with all the Infectious Diseases Units and
Public Health Districts.

Case definition: Clinical criteria are any symptoms of inflammation of
the CNS (for example, meningitis, meningo-encephalitis,
Mandatory TBE encephalomyelitis, encephaloradiculitis). A TBE case is confirmed by
reporting 16,6 at least one of the following five laboratory criteria: TBE specific IgM
AND IgG antibodies in blood; TBE specific IgM antibodies in CSF;
seroconversion or four-fold increase of TBE-specific antibodies in
paired serum samples; detection of TBE viral nucleic acid in a clinical
specimen; isolation of TBE virus from clinical specimen.

Surveillance has been enhanced at national level since 2017.

Bi-phasic disease is not reported.
At-risk groups are defined by occupational risk (i.e. agricultural
Special clinical workers and forest or lumber workers) or risk hobbies (i.e. hiking/
features 13-15 trekking, mushroom foraging).

Presumed place of exposure and date of tick bite are recorded.

Sequelae (information available on 193 cases): 18.1% with permanent
sequelae, and 28.5% with temporary sequelae

Case-fatality rate: 0.7%

Available TICOVAC 0.5 mL (Pfizer Srl)
vaccines

Vaccine
Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Vaccination is free of charge for residents.
recommendations and
reimbursement, and Veneto: Vaccination is not free of charge. Recommended for those
uptake by age group/risk who live in the woods or in rural areas at risk for TBE.
group/ general Trentino-Alto Adige: Vaccination is free of charge for residents.
population

Prof. Giovanni Rezza
Name, address/website Dipartimento Malattie Infettive
of TBE Istituto Superiore di Sanità
National Reference Viale Regina Elena, 299
Center 00161 Roma, Italia

Website: https://www.iss.it/?p=27

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