"We want the number of infections to fall again," said mark witschi, head of the vaccination recommendations section at the federal office of public health, to the "tages-anzeiger".
According to the report, the swiss federal office paid 380 TBE cases this year – an increase of 40 percent over the previous year. Compared to 2016, the number of cases has almost doubled. The FOPH now hopes to reverse the trend with the clear vaccination recommendation and improve the vaccination rate. Currently, only about 30 percent of the swiss population is vaccinated against tbea.
The virus infection can lead to a dangerous meningitis. TBE is usually transmitted to humans through tick bites. For every 100 people bitten by an infected tick, experts estimate that about 30 will contract the disease.
In germany, a total of 485 TBE cases were recorded by the responsible robert koch institute in 2017 – 40 percent more than in the previous year. The risk areas are mainly in southern germany. No final data for the current year has yet been announced.