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Berlin.
Shortly before dusk, at the same time, Gerhard Dobler traverses a wooded area of 100 square meters in the Upper Palatinate. He does it once a month for almost ten years. These are always the same shrubs, shrubs and grbady areas that the medical director of the Institute of Microbiology of the Bundeswehr has scrupulously combed through. As part of a collaboration with the German Infection Research Center (DZIF), he is looking for juvenile ticks, the nymphs.
Scientists and colleagues at the University of Vienna developed a model using collected animals. which allows a very accurate prediction of the tick population the following year. Forecasts for 2018
– 443 ticks per 100 square meters – has already proven to be correct. "We have the largest number of ticks we have collected since the beginning of investigations – good for ticks, bad for us," says Dobler
Common wood block in the most common tick species in Germany
Describing his team in the latest issue of the Zecken-Fachblatt "Experimental and Applied Acarology", the number of teeth can be predicted almost to the animal, the researchers demonstrated in 2016. At the time , they had predicted 187 young ticks on 100 square meters for 2017, found 180. In the autumn of 2017, the researchers then tried for the first time an official prediction. To make it as close to reality as possible, it's more than just collecting the tiny leeches
"In addition to the number of ticks, a lot of meteorological data from the region is included in the calculations," says Dobler. The researchers sent the data to a working group of the University of Vienna. Here, meteorologists and veterinarians are jointly studying the effects of the weather on the appearance of some disease carriers. For the most common type of tick in Germany, the common male (Ixodes ricinus), there were several connections
More mice, more pubescent leeches
The researchers found mostly many pine cones, acorns , fills and other forest fruits found Two years later, they are as young as wooden males. Behind, there is a complex system: the larvae of the blood sucker prefer small rodents, like mice. This is the ideal size to remove grbades or shrubs up to a millimeter at this stage of development.
"And mice are particularly abundant with an abundance of food in the forest – the smaller the rodents gambol in the forest, the more ticks survive and pupate during the winter," says M. After another year, the nymphs become fertile adults, but factors such as temperature also played a key role in the size of the population, says the microbiologist. "After a wet summer, not too hot, a winter sweet, we find a lot of young ticks the following year. "
Ticks transmit dangerous viruses as the pathogen TBE
Although researchers still keep their tick collection The results are representative of the following. "All of Germany." Proportionately, adds Dobler, "in 2017, there were not 180 ticks per 100 square meters in 2017 and 443 this year, but there are more than twice as many tic in Germany the year before. "Samples from northern Germany have already confirmed agreement with this report
The huge increase in tick population is crucial, especially because the small caterpillars can transmit dangerous pathogens. . For example, viruses that cause meningoencephalitis at an early stage (TBE) – in some cases, fatal meningitis – and bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The disease affects various organs, usually the skin, but sometimes also the joints or the nervous system.
Five percent of all adult ticks carry pathogens
There is a vaccine against FSME, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) anyone who lives or moves in risk areas. In Germany, this includes almost all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the southern regions of Thuringia and Hesse, as well as individual districts in Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate. A risk area is defined as areas in which more ticks are infected with TBE than in federal sections. "However, this does not mean that ticks can not spread viruses in other parts of Germany". Up to five percent of all adult ticks carry pathogens, RKI estimates. In the case of juvenile nymphs, that represents up to one percent, says Dobler.
TBE virus also in Lower Saxony for the first time
Due to the significantly higher number of animals, the risk of infection also increases. For the first time, the virus was detected in Lower Saxony this year. "In addition, there is a clear spread from east to west," Dobler says. For example, there are now first cases in the Netherlands: until 2016, the Benelux countries were the only German neighbors not to be TBE. "What are the circumstances in the spread of the virus we want to explore," says Dobler.
Although the number of people affected in Germany up to now with an average of 300 manageable cases per year, but the virus can reach the central nervous system they cause serious damage there, warns the RKI. There is no therapy. A vaccination is therefore, at least in areas at risk, logical, also advise tick collectors in Dobler. It usually consists of three cans and must be refreshed at intervals of three to five years. For areas where vaccination is recommended, vacationers discover on the website of the Federal Foreign Office
Stray toad indicates Lyme disease
There is no comparable protection against Lyme disease – but it can be treated with antibiotics. "The exact numbers of cases are unknown because the disease is not notifiable in all federal states," says Dobler. According to RKI, studies estimate 214,000 cases per year. Generally it is sweet. The most common symptom is the so-called Wanderröte
– Redness of the skin around the tick bite, sometimes accompanied by flu-like symptoms such as fever, muscle and headache.
To avoid this unpleasant experience, Dobler advises against simple protective measures: "Long and light clothing on which you can recognize animals and, after every walk in the forest or in a park, conduct a thorough search." [19659021] © Hamburger Abendblatt 2018 – All rights reserved.
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