Ben et al.
Prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus and coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and tick-borne encephalitis virus in Western Ukraine.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis., in press, DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2019.2450
Although TBE is well known in Ukraine for a long time, limited data have been available in English written publications. Here, Ukrainian scientists have carried out an epidemiological study about various tick-borne pathogens including TBE in the western region of Ukraine – in Lviv and Volyn oblast and the Carpathian Mountains. The prevalence of the TBE virus was found to be 10.5% and 6.3% respectively in Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus. There was a seasonal variation in prevalence. The highest proportion of potive pools was detected in June and the lowest in spring and autumn. Coinfection of ticks with the TBE virus and Borrelia burgdorferi or Anaplasma phagocytophilum was rare (about 1%).
The authors also cite an article published in an Ukrainian journal indicating that from 2004 to 2015, a total of 100 TBE cases have been reported in Ukraine.