An expert has warned that a dangerous tick-borne virus, which is new to the UK, could potentially become more widespread as summers get hotter, and may eventually require vaccines. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs are currently investigating the spread of tick-borne encephalitis (TBEV).
The virus was first detected in Norfolk in 2019 and has since been found in Hampshire, Dorset and Yorkshire, where the first human case was confirmed last year. The health authorities have recently warned that it may be present in other parts of the country due to the wider distribution of the tick species that carries it.
According to Professor Ian Jones, a Professor of Virology at the University of Reading, the spread of the virus is likely to continue, and it may become more prominent in tick species across the country, reports The Mirror. Forestry workers and countryside wardens, who work in fields with long grass, are considered to be at higher risk of exposure. The UK viruses are genetically similar to strains found in Europe and Scandinavia, suggesting that they may have arrived from the nearby continent in ticks attached to birds.
