A confirmed case of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) was recently reported in England. TBE is a disease that can lead to inflammation in the brain and is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of a tick.
These blood-feeding arthropods can harbour and transmit various infectious diseases. Many associate tick bites with Lyme disease, however, in much of Europe (northern, central, and eastern regions and beyond through to parts of Asia), TBE virus can be transmitted by the same ticks.
In fact, more than 3,800 cases of TBE were reported across 24 European countries during 2020, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The incidence in Europe was 0.9 cases per 100,000 people in 2020, but this shows significant variation by country. For example, the rate was 7.9 per 100,000 in the Czech Republic and 24.3 per 100,000 in Lithuania.
