Dekker et al.
Emergence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in the Netherlands
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.10008

For a long time, the Netherlands were considered TBE free. This changed, when ticks collected in a survey in the National Park Sallandse Heuvelrug were found to be positive for TBE virus and the first two human TBE cases have been reported in the Netherlands in 2016. A third TBE case was now reported by the authors in a woman who has acquired the disease in 2017, most probably in the Sallandse Heuvelrug region. At least, two genetically different TBE virus strains have been isolated so far in the Netherlands, one of which is different from the common European subtype variant (reference strain Neudoerfl). As to date, two relatively small TBE areas are known in the Netherlands – the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and the Sallandse Heuvelrug. The authors discussed risk assessment of TBE in the Netherlands which is ongoing at the National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM).

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