Abstract
Tick-borne meningoencephalitis The tick-borne meningoencephalitis virus has probably circulated among animals in localised natural habitats for a very long time. Human infections appeared for the first time in central Europe in the 1940's, however they rapidly spread to most of the countries of the continent.
There are currently about 10,000 reported cases of tick borne meningoencephalitis in Europe, of which 500-1 000 are in the Czech Republic. Small rodents act as a reservoir of infection, the Ixodes ricinus tick in any developmental phase then becomes infected from sucking the blood of the rodent.
These ticks then spread infection in both healthy animals and humans. Safe protection against this potentially life threatening disease is provided by an inactivated vaccine.