Kontakt 2008, 10(Supl 1):61-63

Vaccination of seniors against encephalitis transmitted by ticksProblematika generace 50 plus

Markéta Kastnerová^1,2,*, Kvetoslava Kotrbová^1,2,3, František Kotrba²

¹ Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra veřejného a sociálního zdravotnictví

² Krajská hygienická stanice Jihočeského kraje se sídlem v Českých Budějovicích

³ Kontaktní a doléčovací centrum pro drogovou závislost, o. s., Háječek, České Budějovice

The encephalitis transmitted by ticks or the inflammation of the brain transmitted by ticks is an infectious viral disease. The agent of the disease is the virus of the Central-European encephalitis transmitted by ticks from the group of flaviviruses. The virus is transmitted through the mediation of ticks (Gőpfertová, Pazdiora, Dáňová, 2005). The disease occurs under different clinical patterns and it has typically a two-stage course. Depending on the severity of the involvement, we consider the following form: Meningeal, encephalitic, encephalomyelitic and bulbocervical. The transmission of the infection occurs by the attachment of the infected tick. The tick encephalitis as a typical infection with natural focuses, where there is an agent - virus, transmitter - tick and reservoir animal at a certain locality. For the occurrence of the disease, the period from April to the half of October is typical with a maximum occurrence of ticks at the beginning of June. Over recent years, the incidence of the disease in the Czech Republic has ever been growing. Age groups of people in active age are most involved. As far as the severity of the disease is concerned, elderly people are most endangered. Vaccination is an effective prevention.

Keywords: Tick encephalitis; Ixodes ricinus; incidence; vaccination

Received: November 5, 2007; Accepted: January 23, 2008; Published: February 18, 2008  Show citation