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There is still no cure for tick-borne meningitis. Meanwhile, it threatens with paralysis, deafness and even death. Unfortunately, ticks are almost everywhere. The only weapon remains the vaccine.
Who of us doesn’t like picnics or barbecuing in nature? We go mushroom picking, ride our bikes outside the city, run in the park. And ticks live everywhere. Even though they cannot see us, they can sense our smell and movement. They do not bite, but drink blood. By the way, they infect with deadly diseases. Tick-borne encephalitis is the most dangerous. According to WHO data, it leads to permanent neurological consequences in as many as 58 percent. patients, and in 4 percent. may be fatal.
A souvenir after the canoeing trip
Mark got tick-borne meningitis right after graduating from high school. He came back from a canoe trip and soon after that he was taken to the hospital because he could not move his arms and legs. Later on, there were disturbances in consciousness and seizures. A month was in the intensive care unit. Although he got into college, due to illness, he did not start his studies. The virus damaged the nerves that move the muscles. Rehabilitation took several months. Even after a year, the efficiency in the hands did not fully return.
However, Marek was lucky anyway. In some cases, such stories have a tragic ending. Sometimes the bite of an infected tick causes paralysis of the shoulder joint, which spreads and leads to cardiac arrest, followed by death. It also happens that people with weaker immunity, e.g. treated with steroids, do not survive tick-borne encephalitis.
Like the flu
Symptoms of the disease appear two or three weeks after the bite and resemble the flu. Tick-borne encephalitis has a two-phase course. In the first one, malaise occurs with increasing weakness, headaches, neck pain, limb muscles and eyeball pains. The patient has a temperature of up to 38 degrees. This usually takes about 4 to 14 days. In some people, the virus enters the brain and the disease begins in the second phase – neurological. Then the fever rises up to 40 ° C. Headaches worsen. Nausea and vomiting appear. In such a state, the patient must be hospitalized. If he cannot breathe on his own, he is put into a pharmacological coma for mechanical ventilation. A conscious person would not be able to withstand a tube in his throat that carried air to the lungs.
Paresis, deafness and mental disorders
Nerve paralysis and paresis occur in up to 50 percent. patients with tick-borne encephalitis. Muscle atrophy of the shoulder girdle and limbs are particularly common. Hearing impairment, tremors, or impaired hand movements are common complications. Psychological symptoms are also often observed: disturbance of consciousness, concentration or depression. Convalescence takes a long time. Neurological symptoms, mental disorders, and decreased exercise capacity and weakness resolve slowly. It happens that despite rehabilitation, patients do not fully regain mobility, and mental disorders may appear up to 5 years after suffering from the disease. The most common and lightest form of tick-borne encephalitis is meningitis, occurring in 60% of cases. cases. Inflammation of the brain and meninges is diagnosed in 30 percent. patients, and encephalomyelitis and meningitis, which is the most severe form – in 10 percent.
Protect yourself from a tick
Even one in six ticks can be infected with tick-borne encephalitis. In Poland, over the last two decades, there has been an increase in the incidence. Vaccines are the best protection against this most dangerous disease transmitted by ticks. Their effectiveness is 99%. Already after two vaccinations, one month apart, we gain complete immunity. The fixative vaccination is done after 12 months. To maintain immunity, vaccinations must be repeated every five years, and in elderly or immunocompromised people every three.
Whoever vaccinates does not get sick
In the 90s, in Austria and the Czech Republic, the incidence of TBE was similar. The Austrians have started a vaccination program. Vaccines were reimbursed. Thanks to this, while the Czechs recorded an increase in the incidence, the Austrians almost eliminated the disease. Today, 80% of people vaccinated in Austria are vaccinated. people, and in the neighboring countries about 18 percent. We have less than 1 percent. In Poland, vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis is not reimbursed. They are recommended in the vaccination calendar in endemic regions. For years, all foresters have been vaccinated, and thanks to this, the disease ceased to occur in this environment.