Background

A considerable increase in TBE morbidity has been observed in Europe over the last 30 years, although a
significant fluctuation of the number of yearly reported cases occurs. The countries with the highest incidence rates in Europe are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. The European Centre for Disease and Control (ECDC) has included TBE in the list of notifiable diseases in the European Unit in September 2012. However, diagnostic procedures vary, and surveillance and notification schemes are not uniform and not mandatory in all European countries, e.g. in Belgium, France and the Netherlands TBE are not notifiable although TBE cases have been reported from these countries.

Results

Table 1. shows the number of reported TBE cases from 26 countries for the five-year period of 2013 -2017. While the data could partially be taken from officially published reports (e.g. Germany, Switzerland, Austria), data from other countries were personal communications kindly provided by scientists or they are based on publications (e.g. France, Croatia, Japan).

Country 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Austria1 96 80 64 89 108
Belarus2 107 113 75 133 134
Belgium3,4 2 3 1# 1# 0
Bosnia and Hercegovina5   5*     0
Bulgaria2 0 2 0 0 0
Croatia6 44 42 7*   0
Czech Republic2 626 41 348 565 675
Denmark2 3 1 3    
Estonia7,8 114 83 116 81 85
Finland2,9 38 47 68 61 72
France2 4 10 11 29 19
Germany2,10 441 283 227 348 485
Italy2 42 22 14 53  
Japan11       1 2
Kazakhstan2,12 27 28 49 48 35
Latvia2,13,14 265 173 169 230 138
Lithuania15,16 501 353 336 632 441
Netherlands17,18,19 0 2 0 4 1
Norway20 6 13 9 12 16
Poland21 227 195 149 239 270
Russia1,22 2,236 1,984 2,034 2,035 1,910
Serbia2 0 0 4 0 6
Slovakia2,23,24 162 121 85 176 (32*) 74
Slovenia25 309 101 62 83 101
Sweden2,26,27 215 178 268 238 390
Switzerland2,28,29 202 112 122 202 275
Total number 3,433 2,005 2,181 3,038 3,327

*alimentary outbreak
# imported cases

Discussion

While for many countries, the number of reported cases in 2014 was relatively low, an increase of cases for the next three years could be observed with a peak in 2017 – even in Austria, the country with the highest vaccination coverage. In Germany and Switzerland, the second highest number of cases have been reported in 2017 since nearly two decades. In France, a significant increase of observed cases has been reported in 2016, and in the Netherlands, the first autochthonic cases have been observed during the last years. Nearly twenty years have passed since the first case has been reported in Japan, three new cases have been notified in Japan in 2016 and 2017.

Authors:
Dr. Tamara Vuković Janković, Senior Medical Manager, Medical and Scientific Affairs, International Developed Markets Pfizer
Dr. Wilhelm Erber, Director Medical and Scientific Affairs, Pfizer Vaccines, Austria
Dr. Michael Bröker, Editor TBE News, Global Health Press

Literature

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Compiled: June 2018

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