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
- VIRUSEPIDEMIOLOGISCHE INFORMATION Austria 2013-2015;
- Dobler, G.; Erber, W.; Schmitt H.J.: TBE-The Book, Global Health Press, Singapore 2017 (ISBN: 978-981-1903-3).URL: https://id-ea.org/tbe [Accessed: December 2017]
- Public health institute in Belgium. Available at: https://epidemio.wiv-isp.be/ID/diseases/Pages/TBEV.aspx [Accessed: November 2016]
- Scientific Institute of Public Health of Belgium Service Épidémiologie des maladies infectieuses 2013-2014 Available at: https://epideio.wiv-isp.be/ID/reports/Zoonoses%20et%20maladies%20%c3%a0%20transmission%20vectorielle.%20Rapport%20annuel%202013%20et%202014.pdf [Accessed: November, 2016]
- Institute of Public Health FBIH http://www.zzjzfbih.ba/izdavastvo/publikacije/ [Accessed: Oct, 2016]
- Markovinovic L et al. 2016 Infection Published online: DOI 10.1007/s15010-016-0917-8
- Estonia Available at: https://www.terviseamet.ee/fileadmin/dok/Nakkushaigused/statistika/2015/EEpiR_Dec__2015.pdf [Accessed October, 2016]
- Estonia report 2017.- Available at: http://www.terviseamet.ee/fileadmin/dok/Nakkushaigused/statistika/2017/Nakkusnov.pdf [Accessed: Dec 2017]
- National Registry of Infectious diseases of Finland. Available at: https://sampo.thl.fi/pivot/prod/fi/ttr/shp/fact_shp?row=area-12260&column=time-12059&filter=reportgroup-12194 [Accessed December, 2017]
- Robert Koch Institute Available at; https://survstat.rki.de/ [Accessed: December 1st, 2017]
- Yoshii et al., Emerg Microbes Infect. 2017 Sep 20;6(9):e82.
- Order of MoH (11.07.2007, №357) Kazakhstan “Organization of sanitary-epidemiological (prophylactic) arrangements against tick-born encephalitis”;
- Latvia Available at: http://www.spkc.gov.lv/infekcijas-slimibu-statistika/ [Accessed: October, 2016]
- Latvia report 2017. Available at: https://www.spkc.gov.lv/upload/Infekcijas%20slimības/Bileteni/09_17.pdf [Accessed December 2017]
- Lithuania Available at: http://www.ulac.lt/lt/ataskaitos#2013 [Accessed December 1st, 2017]
- Lithuania report 2017. Available at: http://www.ulac.lt/uploads/downloads/Ataskaitos/2017/forma4_palyginamoji_periodo_2017_spalis.pdf [Accessed: Dec, 2017]
- De Graaf JA, Reimerink JHJ, Voorn GP, bij de Vaate EA, de Vries A, Rockx B, Schuitemaker A, Hira V. First human case of tick-borne encephalitis virus infection acquired in the Netherlands, July 2016. Euro Surveill. 2016;21(33):pii=30318. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.33.30318;
- Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) July 2016;
- Fanoy, E. TBE acquired in The Netherlands. Infectious diseases Bulletin, volume 28, number 7, September 2017. Page 205.
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Available at: Reference: https://www.fhi.no/nettpub/smittevernveilederen/sykdommer-a-a/skogflattencefalitt-tbe-virusinfeks/ [Accessed: December 2017]
- National institute of public health Poland Available at: http://bip.pzh.gov.pl/public/?id=1162, data for 2017 available at20/12/2017 http://wwwold.pzh.gov.pl/oldpage/epimeld/2017/INF_17_12A.pdf [Accessed Dec 2017]
- Noskov A.K.,et al. Tick-Borne Virus Encephalitis in the Russian Federation: Features of Epidemic Process in Steady Morbidity Decrease Period. Epidemiological Condition in 2016 and the Forecast for 2017. Problems of Particularly Dangerous Infections. 2017; 1:37–43. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.21055/0370-1069-2017-1-37-43 http://journal.microbe.ru/jour/article/view/367
- National institute of public health Slovakia Available at: http://www.uvzsr.sk/en/index.php/documents [Accessed Nov, 2016]
- Epidemiological information system Slovakia. Available at: www.epis.sk [Accessed: Dec 2017]
- National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia Available at: http://www.nijz.si/sl/podatki [Accessed November, 2016]
- Folkhälsomyndigheten, Public Health Authority Sweden Available at: https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-agency-of-sweden/communicable-disease-control/vaccinations/vaccination-programmes/ [Accessed November, 2016]
- The Public Health Agency of Sweden Available at: https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/folkhalsorapportering-statistik/statistikdatabaser-och-visualisering/sjukdomsstatistik/tick-borne-encephalitis-tbe/?t=county Accessed: December 2017.
- BAG bulletin 41/16 page 623 Switzerland;
- Number of reported TBE cases in 2017: https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/fr/home/service/zahlen-fakten/zahlen-zu-infektionskrankheiten.exturl.html/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5iYWctYW53LmFkbWluLmNoLzIwMTZfbWVsZG/VzeXN0ZW1lL2luZnJlcG9ydGluZy9kYXRlbmRldGFpbHMvZi9m/c21lLmh0bWw_d2ViZ3JhYj1pZ25vcmU=.html [Accessed: January, 2018]
Compiled: June 2018