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Experts expect that this summer there is a higher risk of infection. The reason: There are so many ticks for a long time. "We will have the largest number of ticks in the last decade," warns Gerhard Dobler of the German Infection Research Center (DZIF).
Ticks – Undergrowth Vampires
Ticks become active in the winter. They hide in the tall grbades, bushes or undergrowth of shady forests. They are happy to be transported when humans or animals are in the wild. In high season, small leeches usually have from April to late October. In mild winter, however, they are already thirsty sooner. In humans, ticks can transmit dangerous diseases such as Lyme disease or tick-borne encephalitis (TBE).
Ticks transmit TBE and Lyme Disease
According to Dobler, the risk is particularly high this year. Although there is a preventive vaccine against TBE, there is no vaccine available for Lyme disease. However, infections can be treated with antibiotics.
Transmission of borreliosis only after a prolonged period of admission
Unlike TBE, borreliosis is not transmitted immediately after stinging. It is thought that after about 12 to 24 hours of aspiration, the tick is so saturated that it releases some of the already absorbed blood into the wound. Borrelia can enter the human bloodstream. Therefore, it is usually important to remove the ticks as soon as possible.
Lyme disease: rash after tick bite
Lyme borreliosis is not easy to diagnose because only a few symptoms are specific to this condition. The first clear symptom is erythema migrans, a circulating, painless redness that spreads by centrifugation at the site of the bite and in other parts of the body. Redness can occur several days after the bite and is often slightly lighter in the center. Nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, fever, lymphadenopathy and headache are possible. The problem with the first stage of the disease: The redness appears only in about two patients with Lyme disease. Even a blood test for Borrelia often has a negative effect, especially at the initial stage.
Second stage of Lyme disease
A second phase of the disease can occur after weeks or months. Symptoms include painful inflammation of the joints, usually on the knees, hands or ankles, but also heart problems and various symptoms of meningitis. The problem is sometimes the diagnosis. The symptoms are often confused with other diseases. Early Meningoencephalitis (TBE)
Meningoencephalitis in early summer is a viral form of meningitis that also affects the brain. This can lead to severe neurological damage and death in about two percent of cases. Drug treatment is not possible.
Symptoms of TBE
TBE disease usually occurs in two phases. About five to seven days after the bite, one-third of those infected have unusual symptoms: fever, fatigue, headache, nausea, occasional gastrointestinal problems. Most of the disease is over.
However, in one third of patients or one infected person in ten, the pathogen infects the central nervous system to varying degrees. A distinction is made between "meningitis" (only the meninges are involved), "meningoencephalitis" (involvement of the meninges and the brain) and "meningoencephalomyelitis" (in addition, the spinal cord is affected). The different forms are distinguished by their symptoms and their evolution.
Nearly all Bavaria is the risk zone of FSM
Experts still advise to pay attention to ticks, especially in TBE risk areas. There are more animals infected with viruses than elsewhere. TBE risk zones currently include 156 districts in Germany. These include Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, but also Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Saxony and Saarland.
Experts recommend that affected people immunize against FSME
The risk zone lives or stays there longer. Vaccination is also recommended for professional groups such as foresters, forestry workers and farmers.
New species of ticks in Germany: Common Woodpecker and Ixodes inopinatus
It is still difficult to badess the danger of new types of ticks in Germany. Parasitologists from the University of Hohenheim as well as virologists from the Institute of Microbiology of the German Armed Forces and the University of Leipzig have for the first time discovered TBE in the common corner of the woods ( Dermacentor reticulatus) in 2016.
: Ixodes inopinatus. She probably immigrated us from the Mediterranean. "It is not yet known how long this species is from Germany and whether it is eligible as a TBE emitter.It would also be important to clarify if it does not bring new diseases into it. Germany, like the Mediterranean fever, "says Ute. Mackenstedt.
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