Tick-borne encephalitis
Are you feeling clued-up on how to protect yourself from this pretty dangerous disease? Because tick-borne encephalitis season has arrived.
What is tick-borne encephalitis?
It’s a disease spread by a virus living in tiny insects called ticks. Usually the disease is spread to humans via a tick bite – typically on a thin area of skin where the ticks like to suck your blood.
Who’s most at risk?
Tick-borne encephalitis is endemic across parts of Eastern Europe: places like Austria, Germany, or other regions around the Alps.
Ticks live in long grasses, so you’re most at risk if you enjoy outdoorsy activities such as walking, hiking, or camping.
What are the symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis?
The first sign is a tick bite somewhere on your body. Usually there are no symptoms for the early-onset of tick-borne encephalitis, but if you’ve been bitten in the past month, look out for:
- flu symptoms: high temperature, headaches, muscle aches and cramps, and nausea
- a circular red rash around the bite.
How can you treat a tick bite?
If you think you may have been bitten by a tick, you must remove the tick immediately.
However, it’s important to follow the correct steps of tick removal.
Pulling out incorrectly runs the risk of making the infection worse – if you accidentally rip the tick’s head off while attempting to remove it, the tick can vomit and release all sorts of nasty toxins into your bloodstream. You’ll want to avoid this at all costs.
Get your tick-borne encephalitis vaccine with us
We highly recommend getting vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis before you visit a high-risk country. It’s a course of three injections: the first two usually administered before you go. And the third at around six months.
You can choose to have the doses over one month or 14 days. There are also specialised tick-borne encephalitis vaccines designed for children. And the vaccine is inactivated – meaning it can’t replicate or cause disease in your body.
Book your vaccines now
Just a few clicks online and you’re booked in
In the meantime, take a look at our short YouTube video to find out more.
Our CEO and travel health nurse, Katy Peters, gives you the full rundown on tick-borne encephalitis and the things you can do to protect yourself during your travels.
