Tick -borne encephalitis :TBE

[ER]

Today in The Independent was a detailed article about ticks both those which transmit Lyme Disease and those which transmit encephalitis. TBE as it is called is a disease which can have very serious and severe consequences. I had read another article about it a month ago which did not seem to indicate that it had reached Scandanavia. The ticks carrying the disease are spreading because of warmer winters.

The article today said that TBE is in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Even though I knew it was established in Eastern Europe it has spread as far west as Switzerland and Germany. I was surprised and a little sceptical about the claims it had gone as north and west as Norway.

It did not give the incidence details for Scandanavia but I am willing to accept it could be a risk area, albeit low at present. I am going to take myself off for immunisation as I am going to the O'ringen together with the rest of the family one of whom has just found out she is off to Norway, so she will be having the jab too.

The other o member of the household had a series of jabs last year for TBE as he was in Slovenia orienteering where TBE is present. He obviously took medical advice first.

The reason for this post is to share my lay knowledge of this disease so that people can seek their own medical and other advice and become aware of this potential problem. We are all probably aware of Lyme disease which I do not believe you can be immunised against, but TBE you can be.

[Oldman]

BOF web site carried an extensive article on this on 3 May 2007

[Tatty]

AS a parent I felt obliged to get my children the jab when they were going on Tour. It was expensive however, £100, and needs 2 done at , I think, a two month interval.Thety suggest a follow up injection about 1 or 2 years later. However at leat I had peace of mind.

[Gross]

I have run in Eastern Europe many times over the years & have yet to be attacked by a tick.... seems much fewer than in UK

But still got the jabs (but BOF were paying at the time )

[Ed]

maybe your blood's just not tasty enough Gross!

I've had a few double-figure skinfulls in Germany - usually when control hanging or pre-marking rather than running though. Fortunately TBE's not prevalent round these parts, only in the south.

[RS]

Shop around for prices from your home GP, uni GP and travel clinics etc. I got them for £35 each one at uni practice.

[Mrs H]

how long does the vacination last for?

[EddieH]

You could buy the vaccine over the counter in Austria for very little last year.

[Blanka]

Just to stop the scare-mongering, I have been brought up in the Czech Republic, doing plenty of outdoor activities all the time and having many ticks over the years. At the time no vaccine was available for TBE, and I am still alive and well!! The warnings given were if you've had a tick, look out for a patch of redness around the site where it was and consult a doctor if you have fever/headache (basically meningitis like symptoms) after having had a tick.

Now that vaccine is available, I did get myself vaccinated - course is vaccine no. 1, then no.2 at 3 months and then no. 3 9-12 months after no.1.

At the University Health Service it cost me 3x£32 (I know it was probably some deal for students, but Tatty's £100 per vaccine seems excessive if that's what she really means) and was fully reimbursed by health insurance, which you might want to investigate if you're getting vaccinated.

Hope this helps!

[Tatty]

£100 for the 2 injections. Still expensive, and that was 5 years ago!!

[Becks]

£65 was the cheapest I could find in Edinburgh, as the Uni practice don't do it. Rubbish!

[Paulo]

I've arranged to have the jabs done as I'm orienteering in Slovenia this summer. My GP referred me to a travel clinic down in Gatwick, although they are charging £64 per jab (sounds similar to Becks experience in Edinburgh then).

I don't want to take the risk of not doing it though, given what I've read about it, especially as I always come back from runs covered in ticks from any area which has them.

[RogYoman]

how do the ticks get across the sea? on people? or do they swim?!

[krocks]

Cheapest quote i've found is £108 for 2 doses with an NHS walk-in centre, but it had to be ordered especially. The private travel clinics i tried were £63 each dose.
And the nurse even tried talking me out of it, telling me the fatality rate is pretty low at 1%, with the vaccination only giving you 90% cover.

[DM]

Cheapest quote i've found is £108 for 2 doses with an NHS walk-in centre, but it had to be ordered especially. The private travel clinics i tried were £63 each dose.
And the nurse even tried talking me out of it, telling me the fatality rate is pretty low at 1%, with the vaccination only giving you 90% cover.

1% is a low fatality rate?? I would think that if you can increase your chances of survival by a factor of nearly 10 by having the vaccine people would be taking the opportunity. I am assuming that this 1% is after the probability of being bitten by an infected tick is taken into account, it's this probability that the media articles appear to be saying is increasing.

I don't know how reliable the test for TBE is but if it's anything like that for Lyme disease confirmation of infection will be hit and miss, and that's not allowing for the fact that many doctors have never seen cases. On another thread it was suggested that if you suspect you have an infection caused by ticks you tell the doctor and insist on the tests.