{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"TBE Book","provider_url":"https:\/\/tbenews.com\/tbe","author_name":"IT","author_url":"https:\/\/tbenews.com\/tbe\/author\/brianong\/","title":"Austria - TBE Book","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"u0yXnfExDW\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tbenews.com\/tbe\/13-1-9\/\">Austria<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/tbenews.com\/tbe\/13-1-9\/embed\/#?secret=u0yXnfExDW\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Austria&#8221; &#8212; TBE Book\" data-secret=\"u0yXnfExDW\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/tbenews.com\/tbe\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/tbenews.com\/tbe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Austria.jpg","thumbnail_width":1180,"thumbnail_height":250,"description":"TBE in Austria Karin Stiasny, Simon Raffl, Stephan W. Aberle, Judith H. Aberle ECDC risk status: endemic (last edited in June 2026, update for 2024: 158 reported cases; update for 2025: 132 reported cases) History and current situation Since 1972, the documentation of human cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Austria has been performed by the Center for Virology, Medical University of Vienna, which acts as the National Reference Laboratory for TBE and other flavivirus infections. Only hospitalized patients with a recent tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) infection confirmed by laboratory diagnosis are counted as cases. Confirmation is usually based on immunoglobulin (Ig) serology (namely enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] for IgM and IgG). However, this confirmation may be supplemented by virus neutralization and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses if needed. In 2012, TBE became a notifiable disease in Austria as in other countries of the European Union.1 The annual incidence rates of TBE in Austria have declined substantially since the 1980s.2 This decline was associated with an increasing rate of vaccination and was not observed in some neighboring countries, for example, Czech Republic and Slovenia, where vaccination coverage is much lower than in Austria.2 Incidences of TBE in the total and unvaccinated population in Austria from 2010 to 2023 are shown in Figure 1. Strong annual fluctuations are a characteristic feature of the epidemiology of TBE in Austria, indicating a complex interplay of factors that control viral transmission dynamics in natural hosts and human risk exposure. The age distribution of TBE incidences in Austria is strongly shifted towards older people2 and reveals a peak in the population 41 to 80 years of age (Figure 2). In addition to virus transmission by tick bites, alimentary infections through the consumption of infected goat cheese have been documented.3,4 TBE viruses isolated in Austria from ticks and humans were shown through molecular analyses to be members of the European subtype of TBEV (TBEV-Eu)5 (and Gerhard Dobler, personal communication; Stephan W. Aberle and Jeremy V. Camp, unpublished results). Mapping of the most likely sites of human infections has been performed by the National Reference Laboratory since 1972 through the use of questionnaires sent to hospitalized TBE patients with confirmed laboratory diagnosis.6 These data are shown in Figure 3. Although many of the most affected regions remained constant throughout the observation period, new endemic zones \u2013 especially in previously unaffected alpine regions in western Austria \u2013 have become established.6 The first TBE case in the federal province of Tyrol was documented in 1984 and in Vorarlberg in 2000. In the subsequent years, certain valleys in both states became sites of infection for a substantial number of human TBE cases.6 In parallel, the incidences in the northeastern part of the country (comprising regions with relatively low altitudes) declined,6 suggesting a change to less favorable conditions for virus circulation in this area. In the traditional core TBE zones of Austria, no evidence has been seen for a shift of infection sites to higher altitudes.6 The causes for establishment of new endemic regions in Austria as well as the decline of TBE in other parts of the country are unknown. Surprisingly, these changes are not paralleled by similar alterations in the incidence of borreliosis, which is transmitted by the same ticks as TBEV but remained relatively constant over time in all parts of Austria.7 These data rule out that the substantial geographical shifts of TBE incidence are only caused by changes in tick abundance or human behavior affecting the risk of tick exposure. The discordant epidemiology of TBE and borreliosis in some parts of Austria rather suggests the existence of yet undefined virus-specific factors that control the circulation of TBEV in its animal reservoir and is independent of general factors controlling the proliferation of ticks. Overview of TBE in Austria Table 1: TBE in Austria Viral subtypes isolated European TBEV subtypes5 (and Gerhard Dobler, personal communication; Stephan W. Aberle and Jeremy V. Camp, unpublished results) Reservoir animals Not known Infected tick species (%) No information available Dairy product transmission Small outbreaks3,4 Case definition used by authorities ECDC Type of reporting Mandatory for clinically and serologically verified viral meningoencephalitis8 Other TBE-surveillance No information available Special clinical features Mild clinical course (febrile illness, meningitis): 36.5%. Severe clinical course (meningoencephalitis, encephalomyelitis, radiculitis): 63.5%. Data of the National reference center for 2023 Licensed vaccines Encepur Erwachsene, Encepur Kinder (Bavarian Nordic)FSME-IMMUN Erwachsene, FSME-IMMUN Kinder (Pfizer) Vaccination recommendations General recommendationhttps:\/\/www.sozialministerium.at\/Themen\/Gesundheit\/Impfen\/Impfplan-%C3%96sterreich.html Vaccine uptake ~80%9 National Reference center for TBE National reference center for human arbovirus infectionsCenter for Virology, Medical University of ViennaKinderspitalgasse 15, 1090 Vienna, Austriavirologie@meduniwien.ac.at Figure 1: Incidence of TBE in Austria in total and unvaccinated population, 2010\u20132023. Update for 2025: 132 reported cases. Click the image above to enlarge Orange columns: TBE incidence in the total population Grey columns: TBE incidence in the unvaccinated population (based on patients with a documented status of \u2018no vaccination\u2019). Population data were obtained from the Austrian Statistical Office (\u201cStatistik Austria\u201d, https:\/\/www.statistik.at\/) and vaccination coverage data from reference.10 Source data &#8211; Figure 2: Age and gender distribution of TBE in Austria, 2010\u20132023. Click the image above to enlarge Source Data: Figure 3: Sites of TBEV infection in Austria, 1972\u20132023 Click the image above to enlarge Red circles: Cumulative infection sites of TBE patients for the period from 1972 to 2022 Infection sites were geocoded and processed for spatial mapping by QGIS (https:\/\/www.qgis.org\/). Spatially close sites were aggregated using a 2 km raster for Austria, and centroids were calculated for each square. These centroids formed the center of the red circles with diameters proportional to the number of documented infection sites within this area. The base map was built using Natural Earth Data [borders, rivers, lakes, cities; http:\/\/www.naturalearthdata.com\/] and Global Multi-Resolution Topography (GMRT) synthesis data of the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS) [topography; 11, http:\/\/www.marine-geo.org\/tools\/GMRTMapTool\/]. Contact Karin Stiasnykarin.stiasny@meduniwien.ac.at Authors Karin Stiasny, Simon Raffl, Stephan W. Aberle, Judith H. Aberle Citation Stiasny K, Raffl S, Aberle SW, Aberle JH.TBE in Austria. In: Dobler G, Erber W, Br\u00f6ker M, Chitimia-Dobler L, Schmitt"}