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By Regine Warth
Photo: Vahldiek / Adobe Stock
The 2018 is already considered a year of ticks. We talked with tick specialists and explained what we had to do when we went out.
Stuttgart – Ticks tick this year particularly: Since the beginning of the season of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), 109 people have been infected with the virus in Baden-Württemberg – especially in the districts of Ravensburg (13 cases), Calw (10 cases) and Ortenaukreis (15 cases). If the year 2018 will exceed the highest year TBE 2017 so far with about 500 cases remains to be seen. But it is clear: "We will have the largest number of ticks in the last ten years," says Gerhard Dobler, tick expert at the German Infection Research Center (DZIF) in Munich. Since 2009, the researcher at DZIF and his team at the Institute of Microbiology of the Bundeswehr are studying the spread and activity of TBE virus in Germany.
What are the reasons for the number of cases?
Where are the risk areas?
Will TBE risk areas continue to grow?
The beginning of TBE spreads further north. "The statistics show us completely new hot spots in Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin," says parasitologist Hohenheim Ute Mackenstedt, who also initiates the Congress of Ticks of Southern Germany, which has held every two years at the University of Hohenheim. One of the main goals of tick specialists now is to know if the hotspots of southern Germany and further north have similarities – for example in the plant population or in the animals that live there . "Rodents play an important role in the cycle," says Mackenstedt. Rodents are scattered, which would explain why danger zones in risk areas do not migrate much. At the same time, ticks in the larval stage prefer rodents. And rodents are the source where ticks get TBE viruses.
The common lumberjack, scientifically known as Ixodes ricinus, is adapted to different environmental conditions and hosts in Europe – and is therefore responsible for most human ticks in this country. It is considered the main transmitter of the FSME disease or Lyme disease. For example, parasitologists from the University of Hohenheim and virologists from the Institute of Microbiology of the German Armed Forces and the University of Leipzig have discovered TBE in evergreen periwinkle (Dermacentor reticulatus). ) found in East Germany. The same year, a tick scientist from the Institute of Microbiology of the German Armed Forces also discovered a brand new species: Ixodes inopinatus, in English: the unexpected. She immigrated from the Mediterranean. "If this species as a TBE emitter is in question, but is not yet clear," says parasitologist Hohenheim Ute Mackenstedt.
Where are the ticks in this country?
Anyone who travels in the Black Forest or the Swabian Alb is aware of the danger in bushes and grbades. But even in the city, there is a risk to underestimate with Lyme disease and FSME. Especially when gardens are designed naturally. The Landesgesundheitsamt therefore advises, even after gardening to thoroughly search: the knees, the bad area, the groin, the armpits, the hairline, because there is a thin, warm and moist skin.
What diseases can ticks continue?
Even though TBE figures from the health department have a different impression: The most common infectious disease transmitted by ticks is Lyme disease. About one out of every five bears the spiral-shaped bacterium (Borrelia). The symptoms are very non-specific, so Lyme disease is often recognized late. Often, the illness starts with fever and flu-like symptoms. In most patients, redness occurs, with circular erythema extending from the puncture site, which disappears again. Only in about 0.2 to 0.9 percent of cases, there is an infection of the nervous system (neuroborreliosis). But even years later, Borrelia can be active and cause severe inflammation with joint pain, which can become chronic. Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics.
How to protect yourself against the disease?
The symptoms of meningoencephalitis (TBE) in early summer are similar to those of a summer flu – such as runny nose, fever, sore throats head and throat. But it can also lead to brain and meningitis. Although there is no medical precaution for Lyme disease, you can get vaccinated against FSME. For multi-year protection, three vaccinations are necessary. The first two vaccinations take place at intervals of one to three months, the third – depending on the vaccine – after five or nine to twelve months. Subsequently, a first booster after three years, then depending on age and the vaccine every three to five years needed.
How to remove a tick
