Anyone who is regularly exposed to ticks during work should be offered vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) by the employer. That is what the Health Council writes Thursday in an opinion to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. The Netherlands does not currently offer a TBE vaccination program because the risk of infection from a tick bite, unlike infection with Lyme disease, is very low in the country.
Unlike Lyme disease, an effective vaccine is available for tick-borne encephalitis. For good protection, three different injections are necessary, which cost 69 euros separately. The Health Council wants employers to take their responsibility by offering staff who regularly contract tick bites — that is, five times or more per year — the TBE vaccination. The advisory body mainly refers to work performed in forest areas, dunes, heathland, parks and gardens. They would run an extra risk of a tick bite and therefore also of infection with the TBE virus. The same applies to employees who may come into contact with the TBE virus, such as in laboratories.
Sixteen patients
Infected ticks transmit the infectious disease caused by the TBE virus (tick-borne encephalitis) via tick bites from animal to animal and sometimes to humans. According to the RIVM, the virus was only found abroad until recently. That changed when indications emerged in the spring of 2016 that deer had been infected in the Netherlands and that the virus had also been detected in Dutch ticks, including on the Sallandse Heuvelrug and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. Between 2016 and 2022, medical laboratories and the GGD registered sixteen patients who developed tick-borne encephalitis incurred in the Netherlands.
In case of infection, people usually have no symptoms or only mild flu-like symptoms. Sometimes the virus causes inflammation of the meninges (meningitis) or inflammation of the brain (encephalitis). In addition, complaints persist for a long time and in rare cases the virus is fatal.
became last year according to the RIVM and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) reported a third fewer tick bites than in previous years. On an annual basis, about 1.5 million cases of tick bites are registered in the Netherlands. Most reports came from Gelderland, followed by North Brabant and North Holland.
Read also: Vaccines to prevent Lyme disease target either the tick or the bacteria
2023-08-24 07:06:19
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