The risk of a tick bite is particularly high this year

It was fine, Tina Klaus had spent the afternoon in the garden of her mother in Wuppertal. Subsequently, seven ticks were sitting on their legs – which, however, had not yet bitten. Many gardeners and dog owners also have this summer experience that there are many leeches. Experts confirm the observation. "This year, the risk of tick bites is particularly high," says Gerhard Dobler of the German Infection Research Center (DZIF). "We expect the most ticks in the last ten years."

Animals are sitting on bushes, shrubs and grbades and from there on a host they can suck blood. So, the so-called common wood is the main carrier of meningoencephalitis (TBE) early in the summer, a viral meningitis that can kill. Lyme disease is transmitted by this tick species. Although there is no cure, but a preventive vaccination for TBE, there is no vaccine against Lyme disease, but a treatment option with antibiotics. The good news is that this year the number of patients with FSME is not worrying. To date, the Robert Koch Institute has registered 107 cases all over Germany. In 2017, the number was very high at 500 cases, one-third more than in 2016. NRW does not belong to FSME regions such as Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg or some of the new Länder. "There were occasional individual cases in NRW, but they were often related to the trip," says Susanne Glasmacher of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin. A few cases have occurred here on the Lower Rhine at Solingen, Aachen, Rhein-Erft-Kreis and Rhein-Sieg-Kreis

What ticks transmit here is Lyme disease. This bacterial infection can only be felt several months after the tick bite: headache, flu symptoms, inflammation of the nervous system, joint pain.

While Lyme disease is not notifiable in seven other federal states (Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and East Germany) the number of patients. According to RKI, this has indeed increased sharply in the weeks following the end of April. Thus, the number of cases reported at the 24th week of June with 1891 was already high for the season. Peak values ​​last year in July were more than 400 new patients a week – in the seven federal states in which this disease is detected. In total, there were about 7,800 cases registered in 2017.

DZIF scientists believe that this number will be significantly higher at the end of this year. They developed a prognostic model that calculates average temperatures and the food situation of wild animals. According to the data, they predicted 187 ticks per standardized area and found 180 ticks by summer 2017. By 2018, the highest number of ticks found was predicted with 443 ticks. Dobler is sure the forecast is correct. "We have the largest number of ticks we have collected since the beginning of the study – good for ticks, bad for us."

Glasmacher wants to see the relativised data. First, there have always been strong fluctuations in the number of tick bites in recent years. Secondly, the jump in recent weeks is also due to the good weather. Many people would move easily dressed in nature. But she also advises taking the danger seriously. "If you're in the open, make sure you check the ticks," says Glasmacher. This also applies in winter because animals are active from an outside temperature of eight degrees. The pathogens of Lyme disease sit in the intestinal tract of ticks and take eight to ten hours to enter the mouthparts and thus into the human. "If you remove the tick quickly, there is a low risk of Lyme disease," says the biologist. In addition, only one percent of tick bites lead to Lyme disease because not all ticks carry the pathogens.

Ticks like hot, humid weather and are more active. Wet and warm, they also love their host, which is why they like to look under the armpits or crotch to bite. If you want to protect yourself, you should wear long clothes while gardening and then search. "There are also substances that can be used as a precautionary measure," says Glasmacher

However, health insurance only pays for FSME if they live in a risk zone or go on vacation