Having started the TBE News in 2018, more than 100 Snapshots and 24 Newsletters have in the meanwhile been published. The gives reason to reflect the last year: What stands out looking through the TBE spectacles.
From my view, it is the multitude of reports about the spread of TBE virus and the identification of new foci across Europe.
In Germany, the number of counties regarded as risk areas (defined by the Robert-Koch Institut) has increased to 161 and for the first time, a county in Lower Saxony, in northern Germany has been classified risk area (Snapshot 9/2019). More and more TBE cases have been reported in the West and Southwest of Switzerland, and consequently, the Swiss Federal Office for Health now regards nearly the whole country as TBE risk area (Snapshot 8/2019). New foci have been detected in Finland (Snapshot 28/2019), in Sweden (Snapshot 37/2019), in Denmark (Snapshot 35 and 45/2019), in France (Snapshot 38/2019) and even in the city of Moscow (Snapshot 33/2019).
The most spectacular reports are from the UK, where two TBE foci have been identified and the first probable human case of TBE occurred (Newsletter November and December 2019). Henceforth, textbooks have revised their figures showing the TBE belt from France (most westerly) to Japan (most easterly) and have to include the UK, where TBE virus is circulating. Currently, it is difficult to assess the risk to acquire TBE in the UK and further studies are needed to estimate the public health impact of these new findings. However, all these reports visualize that epidemiological studies and careful diagnostics are indispensables measures to rate the risk to acquire TBE and give cause to strengthen the knowledge about TBE and to promote the usefulness of protection by vaccination for individuals living in or travelling to TBE risk areas.
Dr. Michael Broeker
Happy New Year!