Böhm et al.
Tick-borne encephalitis in a naturally infected sheep
BMC Vet. Res. 2017; 13:267
This is the first report about a sheep, which has naturally acquired TBE in Europe. The sheep became infected in the Federal State of Bavaria, which is a TBE risk area in Germany. The five-month-old lamb showed severe neurological symptoms. Neuropathological lesions (immunohistochemistry) resembled in human beings. TBE virus could be isolated from the sheep’ brain and phylogenetic analyses of its genome revealed a close relationship to the European subtype strain Kumlinge. Serum samples from individual sheep of the herd were tested for TBE antibodies and one sample was positive in neutralization assay. In 2016, an alimentary outbreak by unpasteurized goat milk product has been reported in a TBE risk area 68 km away, and in 2017 an additional outbreak occurred in the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. These cases raise concerns about consumer’s protection by offering milk and milk products from unpasteurized milk of sheep, goat and cows.