Routes of transmission of tick-borne encephalitis: can you get infected from a person? How to recognize tick-borne encephalitis. Causes and routes of transmission of the virus

However, many neglect precautions and begin to think about possible infection not immediately, but only after some time, when the same tick can no longer be found, and it is too late to carry out prevention (it is effective only in the first 3-4 days after the bite).

In this case, there is only one option left - to monitor the condition of the injured person and, at the first symptoms of the disease, go to the hospital and begin treatment. After an encephalitis tick bite in case of infection of the body, the duration incubation period tick-borne encephalitis in humans lasts several days - during this time external signs It is impossible to say whether a disease is developing in the body or not. And only the first characteristic symptoms usually clearly indicate that the disease has begun. Or if usual terms The incubation period has passed, but there are no signs of the disease, you can rest assured that no infection has occurred.

How long a bite victim needs to carefully monitor his condition and what nuances are important to take into account will be discussed below...

Duration of the incubation period of tick-borne encephalitis

It should be borne in mind that the duration of the incubation period of tick-borne encephalitis is not a constant value - it is individual for each person, and depends on the following factors:

• The number of viral particles that enter the body during a bite;
• State of the immune system at the time of infection;
• The number of ticks that have bitten a person.

Cases have been reported in which encephalitis manifested itself within three days after the bite, but there is also evidence of the development of the disease 21 days after the tick attack. On average, the incubation period of tick-borne encephalitis lasts 10-12 days, and after this period the likelihood of getting sick is significantly reduced.

People with weakened immune systems should watch themselves especially carefully - they are more likely to get sick after a tick bite. People with strong immunity Even an infection that has truly entered the body is in most cases suppressed by the immune system, and the disease does not develop.

On a note

Also at risk are people who have recently arrived in an area where tick-borne encephalitis is endemic. Old-timers in such areas may have developed immunity naturally- with rare tick bites and small amounts of virus entering the body. New arrivals do not have such protection, and if bitten, the likelihood of becoming infected is much higher.

Age also plays a role, although not a primary one. According to statistics, children are most susceptible to tick-borne encephalitis - in some areas they account for more than 60% of cases. This may be due to imperfect immunity child's body compared with adults, and with the banal fact that a child more often finds himself in conditions of possible infection (while playing with peers) and is not so careful about his own protection from tick bites.

However, there is not one age group, the representatives of which would not be affected by tick-borne encephalitis at all.

As a result, after a tick bite, any affected person must be monitored for three weeks. If during this time the symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis have not developed, then you can rest assured that the danger of getting sick has passed.

On a note

There is another way of contracting encephalitis - through raw milk of infected goats and cows, or corresponding dairy products. Moreover, if goats themselves get sick when infected with the TBE virus, then in cows it multiplies in the body absolutely asymptomatically.

When infected milk is consumed, the incubation of the virus proceeds on average faster, and the disease manifests itself after about a week.

Now let's see what happens to the virus immediately after it enters the human body and how it develops during the incubation period...

Penetration of the TBE virus into the body and the initial stage of tissue damage

Once in the wound, viral particles (actually, these are RNA molecules in a protein shell) penetrate directly from the intercellular space into the host cells. Usually these are cells of the subcutaneous tissue and adjacent muscles (although when infected through dairy products, this can also be the gastrointestinal tract).

When entering a cell, the viral particle loses its envelope, and only RNA appears inside the host cell. It reaches the genetic apparatus in the nucleus, integrates into it, and in the future the cell will constantly produce, along with its components, proteins and RNA of the virus.

When an infected cell produces enough infectious particles, it can no longer perform its functions and function normally. Cells literally filled with viral particles are destroyed - as a result a large number of virions enter the intercellular space and spread to other cells, and the decay products of the dead cell (and partly the antigens of viral particles) cause inflammation. During the incubation period, the number of viral particles in human tissues constantly and very quickly grows.

The photo below shows what tick-borne encephalitis virus particles look like under a microscope:

If the immune system of an infected person is strong enough, it quickly identifies the virus antigens as dangerous and begins to produce antibodies that bind viral particles, preventing them from infecting new cells. In this case, no symptoms of the disease will appear - gradually the infection will be completely suppressed. But if antibodies are not produced (for example, the immune system does not identify the virus as a dangerous structure for the body), or there are not enough of them, then the viruses pass into the bloodstream and, along with it, are spread throughout the body.

Initially, tick-borne encephalitis affects and destroys the so-called reticuloendothelial cells that perform protective function. However, just three days after infection, the virus is able to penetrate the central nervous system.

It is the brain that is the most favorable place for the virus to multiply - and here it works in the same way, destroying cells and infecting new ones. But if subcutaneous tissue If damaged, it is restored quickly, but nerve cells are deprived of this ability. This is why brain damage is dangerous for any organism - brain cells and meninges They do not recover for a long time, and their damage leads to permanent health problems.

Despite the fact that in the classic case, encephalitis begins quite abruptly and unexpectedly, sometimes changes in well-being occur already during the incubation period - the so-called prodromal symptoms. These include increased fatigue, weakness, drowsiness, poor appetite, general malaise. These are the first signals that infection has occurred.

On a note

In the vast majority of cases, the infection goes undetected, and the disease takes on an erased asymptomatic form. Infection can only be guessed by the presence of antibodies in the blood of an apparently healthy person.

When the amount of virus multiplying begins to clearly interfere normal life body, the first symptoms of the disease appear. If tick-borne encephalitis corresponds to the Far Eastern subtype, then the onset occurs quite quickly. severe lesions nervous system. Due to degradation nerve cells may arise epileptic seizures, muscle weakness and atrophy, paralysis.

The mortality rate of those sick in the Far East is quite high - this is a quarter of all cases of the disease. In Europe, the probability of death from encephalitis is much lower - only 1-2% of patients die.

Is a person contagious during the incubation period?

Today only two are known possible ways infection with tick-borne encephalitis - through the bites of infected ticks, as well as through milk and dairy products from infected goats and cows. If a person gets sick with tick-borne encephalitis, then he is not contagious to others. This applies to both the incubation period and the time of the most severe manifestations. The disease will not be transmitted by communication (airborne droplets), touching or through mucous membranes.

The same applies to pets - the owner cannot get an infection from a sick dog that has been infected by a tick (it is useful to keep in mind that dogs in most cases become infected from ticks not with encephalitis, but with piroplasmosis).

So you don’t have to worry about the danger of a person bitten by a tick for others - transmission of TBE from person to person is simply impossible. Even if infected, a person will not be dangerous to his loved ones, you can communicate with him, stay in the same room and care for him - the virus will not be transmitted either by airborne droplets or by contact.

The first symptoms of the disease that you should pay attention to

When monitoring the condition of an adult or child who has been bitten by a tick, you should pay attention to even a slight deterioration in well-being. Increased fatigue within a few days of the incubation period it can already become one of the first prodromal symptoms of the disease.

On a note

As a rule, tick-borne encephalitis begins abruptly. Often patients can even name a specific time when they felt bad. Classic first signs of the disease:

• The temperature rises sharply;
• Progressive headaches are observed;
• Swelling of the face appears;
• Sometimes there are severe nausea and vomiting.

Such primary symptoms are characteristic of the relatively mild European subtype of encephalitis. For the more severe Far Eastern variant, in addition to the above manifestations, already at the beginning of the disease, double vision, difficulty speaking and swallowing, and difficulty urinating are typical. Pathologies of the nervous system may be immediately observed - for example, deterioration in mobility neck muscles. The patients are very apathetic and lethargic, any communication increases their headache and gives them more pain. more discomfort. In the future, such symptoms only intensify, especially without timely treatment.

It is especially dangerous if signs of brain damage immediately begin to appear. Difficulty in movement, seizures and convulsions may indicate a severe form of the disease, which requires urgent hospitalization. However, in the same way, any progressive symptom should be a signal to immediately go to the hospital.

Doctor's help is no less important with the relatively “mild version” of tick-borne encephalitis (European). This is absolutely not a disease in which you can rely only on the strength of your body. Vitamins, exercise stress And Fresh air, of course, are useful, but they definitely will not cure tick-borne encephalitis. Self-medication and delay are absolutely unacceptable for this disease.

Sometimes situations arise when immediate delivery of a person to medical institution impossible. In such cases, you need to place the patient's bed in a darkened but well-ventilated room. It is recommended to give him plenty of water. Food should be homogeneous so as not to cause unnecessary headaches by chewing. If urgently needed, painkillers can be used. Both at the very beginning of the disease and later, it is necessary to provide the sick person with maximum physical, mental and spiritual peace.

On a note

When transporting to the hospital, it is important to position the person comfortably in the car to reduce shaking. In this case, the car should be driven at low speed and sharp turns should be avoided. It should be noted that the more time passes from the onset of the disease, the harder the patient tolerates any movement. Therefore, when the first symptoms occur, you should consult a doctor as quickly as possible.

Further development of tick-borne encephalitis and its possible consequences

The high temperature with which the disease usually begins lasts for about a week from the end of the incubation period. But this period can reach up to 14 days.

At the height of the disease, the symptoms of encephalitis can vary greatly, depending on its form. In turn, the more severe the form will be, the more the virus multiplies in nerve cells.

With the most mild form– febrile – there are no symptoms of brain damage at all, and only standard symptoms are observed infectious manifestations. Therefore, this form of encephalitis can sometimes be confused with the flu.

The most common form of CE, meningeal, is similar in symptoms to meningitis. Patients suffer from severe headaches, increased intracranial pressure and photophobia. This changes the composition cerebrospinal fluid. However, the meningeal form, for all its danger, is also treatable.

The disease is especially severe in the meningoencephalitic form, which has a high mortality rate. Multiple small hemorrhages are found in the brain, gray matter dies, convulsions and seizures are observed. Recovery is possible, but it can take years, and full recovery is very rare. Due to necrosis of brain tissue, a decrease in intelligence may develop, which leads to disability and the development of mental disorders.

There are other forms of tick-borne encephalitis - poliomyelitis and polyradiculoneuritis. In this case, the virus is localized predominantly in the spinal cord, causing a complex motor disorders. This may be tingling or numbness of the muscles, a feeling of “running goosebumps”, weakness of the limbs. If the outcome is unfavorable, the disease can result in paralysis and death.

Statistics show that about a third of patients who had symptoms of serious damage to the nervous system completely restore their health. It's about about all of the above forms of encephalitis. At the same time, mortality for severe forms the disease ranges from 20 to 44%, depending on the region. Separate group sick people (from 23 to 47%) are people who have significant consequences after illness, including disabled people.

The photo below shows the consequences of tick-borne encephalitis (atrophy of the muscles of the shoulder girdle against the background of the polio form of TBE):

With this in mind, it becomes quite obvious that for any obvious signs health problems during the incubation period of tick-borne encephalitis are necessary in as soon as possible take the victim of a tick bite to a doctor to clarify the situation and begin treatment. The sooner treatment begins (if it is required), the significantly lower the risk of possible severe consequences CE.

Treatment of tick-borne encephalitis

The main method of treating the disease is a course of injections of specific anti-encephalitis gamma globulin. This substance is a protein from the class of antibodies that neutralizes tick-borne encephalitis viral particles in the body, preventing them from infecting new cells. The same immunoglobulin is also given for emergency prevention diseases.

Ribonuclease is often used in treatment - special enzyme, which “cuts” the RNA strand (and this is the hereditary material of the virus), blocking its reproduction. If necessary, the patient may be prescribed interferon, a special protein that enhances the cells’ own protection from damage by viral particles.

There is usually no need to use all three drugs at once, but such a need may arise if a severe form of the disease develops.

Despite the level of severity of symptoms, all patients with tick-borne encephalitis are given strict bed rest. How more people moves, especially in the initial period of the disease, the higher the chance of complications. Any increased intellectual activity in acute period diseases are also prohibited. At the same time, it is important to increase the duration of sleep, eat varied and sufficiently high-calorie foods.

Normally, the patient must be treated in a hospital for 14 to 30 days. The minimum period of treatment for CE is required for the mildest (febrile) form of the disease, the maximum for meningeal form is from 21 to 30 days.

After this time, patients usually fully recover and can return to their normal lives. However, for two months after recovery, you should choose the most gentle daily routine for yourself and not overwork yourself. The body still needs time to full recovery.

For more severe forms of tick-borne encephalitis, the period spent in hospital is between 35-50 days. The patient can either be completely cured or receive serious complications in the form of motor dysfunction, muscle numbness, mental disorders.

Resumption of well-being in such cases can take from six months to several years, and sometimes the consequences of encephalitis remain with a person for life.

It is important to know

Sustained positive dynamics in the first days of treatment do not guarantee recovery. There is a two-wave form of encephalitis, when after a week of imaginary improvement a new acute febrile period begins. Therefore, during treatment you must strictly adhere to the doctor’s recommendations to avoid relapse. With the correct actions of the patient, in most cases, complete recovery is observed, but for this it is important to treat interaction with the doctor as responsibly as possible.

Incubation period of other tick-borne infections

Overall, the most dangerous period after a tick bite – this is two weeks. Taking into account possible fluctuations in the duration of the incubation period, it would be optimal to monitor the condition of the affected person for 21 days after removing the tick. Of course, there have been precedents for later manifestations of disease after a bite, but these cases are very rare. Therefore, if three weeks have passed since the tick attack, and everything is fine, then we can confidently say that no infection has occurred.

Despite the danger of tick-borne encephalitis and the need to monitor your condition after a tick bite, it is worth considering that infection, fortunately, occurs quite rarely. Not all ticks carry encephalitis, even in areas where this disease is endemic. For example, in Siberia and the Far East, only 6% of ticks are infected with the virus.

Most often, those who have been severely bitten become infected. Such risk groups include tourists, foresters, hunters - these people can regularly remove 5-10 ticks from themselves. If a person is bitten by one tick, then the risk of getting sick is minimal. With a high probability, nothing terrible will happen after such a bite, so there is no need to panic. But it is imperative to monitor your well-being, just as you must consult a doctor if obvious symptoms of the disease appear during the standard incubation period.

The fight against acute infectious diseases has been and remains one of the most important tasks healthcare. Despite all the achievements modern medicine, it is still too early to talk about the complete elimination of many serious diseases. These include tick-borne encephalitis. No one is immune from this disease, and you can become infected with it in various places: while hunting, while going for mushrooms, on a picnic in nature, and even while walking in a city park. Therefore, everyone should know what needs to be done to avoid this disease, what symptoms are observed in someone who has become infected with tick-borne encephalitis and what measures need to be taken in this case.

Relevance of the problem of tick-borne encephalitis

Encephalitis is one of the most severe infectious diseases. With absence intensive care the disease can lead to fatal outcome or lifelong disability.

Tick-borne encephalitis was differentiated from other diseases with similar symptoms relatively recently. From 1935 to 1938, basic research was carried out on the epidemiology, symptoms and methods of preventing this disease, the greatest contribution to which was made by A.G. Panov, L.A. Zilber and E.N. Pavlovsky.

This type of meningoencephalitis is unlikely to ever be eradicated in the same way as it was eliminated smallpox. The main reason for this is that the disease is naturally focal. There is a natural reservoir of pathogens. The virus is found in the blood of various mammals and birds. Moreover, the number of animal species whose individuals can be carriers of the virus exceeds 130.

It is not possible to completely eliminate the virus from its natural reservoir. Therefore, as long as there are those species of animals that can be carriers of this dangerous microorganism, and ixodid ticks that transmit it to people, there is a threat of infection for humans with this meningoencephalitis. Therefore, the problem of combating this disease has been and remains relevant.

As statistics on tick-borne encephalitis infection show, in Russia alone the annual incidence of this disease is about three thousand people. Moreover, the mortality rate from this disease varies widely – from 1 to 25%, depending on the subtype of the disease. The lowest mortality rate is shown by the European subtype, and the highest by the Far Eastern subtype.

The areas of greatest prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis are primarily Asian regions:

• Far East.
• Ural.
• Siberia.

In the Central zone, in the Volga region and in the North-West of Russia, the disease is less common.

What is tick-borne encephalitis?

To avoid this deadly disease, you need to know in which situations the risk of infection is greatest. Knowing this, it will be possible to apply appropriate precautions and thereby significantly reduce the risk of infection. If the disease does begin, then it is important to recognize it in time - otherwise there is a high risk of losing not only full health, but also life. So, what are the ways of contracting encephalitis, what are its signs, and how can it be avoided?

The dog tick has a much wider distribution range. In addition to encephalitis, he suffers other dangerous diseases, such as Lyme disease and Marseilles fever.

There is another, more rare case infection with tick-borne encephalitis - when consuming milk from infected goats and cows that has not undergone heat treatment.

The risk group for the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis includes, first of all, people who, for one reason or another, often stay in the forest, especially in the spring and summer, when the likelihood of tick-borne encephalitis is greatest. These include forestry workers, geologists, builders of various objects, as well as people involved in tourism or hunting. However, during recent years Cases of infection of urban residents have also become more frequent while walking through a suburban forest or relaxing in a summer cottage.

What happens to people after they become infected with tick-borne encephalitis? The course of the disease depends on the method of infection. If the cause of the disease was the consumption of unboiled milk, then the disease proceeds in two stages. First, the virus penetrates into internal organs, causing the first wave of temperature rise. Only then, after the virus penetrates the brain, does encephalitis actually occur.

When infected after a bite, the temperature rises only once, and the disease begins directly with the inflammatory process in the brain and spinal cord.

The incubation period of the disease lasts from one and a half to three weeks from the moment the virus enters the body. The disease begins with a lesion gray matter brain, as well as spinal motor neurons and the peripheral nervous system. Later inflammatory process takes over the entire brain.

The disease begins with sharp increase temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius, and at first it can be confused with other diseases accompanied by fever, such as influenza. As with other diseases accompanied by fever and intoxication, with encephalitis patients experience:

• weakness;
• nausea and vomiting;
• painful sensations aching character in bones and muscles;
• photophobia.

Therefore, first of all, it is necessary at the very beginning to differentiate encephalitis from diseases with similar symptoms. This is not very difficult because characteristic features this disease manifests itself already on the very initial stage diseases. During the period following the incubation period, with the development of tick-borne encephalitis, the following specific symptoms are observed:

• involuntary muscle twitching;
• weakness in the limbs, reaching numbness;
• headache even with small twitches of the head.

When the disease has developed into the stage of total inflammation of the brain, patients experience:

Neurological phenomena sometimes occur against the background of problems with other body systems, in particular, the cardiovascular and digestive systems.

There are no specific treatments for this disease. If the diagnosis is appropriate, the patient is hospitalized and given supportive therapy, which consists of the use of corticosteroids and immunoglobulin. When the patient falls into coma, it is connected to supporting equipment.

Tick-borne encephalitis can lead to death or disability due to complications such as paralysis, usually affecting the hands, as well as causing memory impairment and dementia. Typically, such consequences occur in severe cases of the disease or in the absence of timely medical assistance.

How to avoid getting infected with tick-borne encephalitis

Preventing infection with tick-borne encephalitis is exactly the case when a lot depends on the person himself. This disease is not transmitted through the air, unlike ARVI, and it cannot be contracted through the oral-fecal route, like, for example, dysentery, therefore a person’s degree of control over the situation is much higher. It is enough to strictly observe the appropriate precautions - and the risk of infection is reduced many times over.

Personal measures to prevent tick-borne encephalitis are as follows:

• when going into the forest, you should definitely wear a hat;
• clothing should be such that the area of ​​open areas of the body is minimal;
• during the hike, you should avoid thickets and try to walk along paths;
• upon returning home, it is necessary to conduct a full body examination, and dry out and wash clothes.

In case of a bite, it is necessary to take preventive measures, consisting of a single intramuscular injection immunoglobulin. In addition, the doctor may schedule an appointment antiviral drugs. After taking preventive measures, the victim of a tick bite should be under medical supervision for a month. If you feel the slightest discomfort, you should immediately contact a medical facility.

Important preventative measure is vaccination. It provides the most reliable protection the body from disease and is especially relevant for people who are often in the forest due to the nature of their work. However, vaccination does not affect all people equally and in 3% of cases the subsequent production of antibodies does not occur.

Does the myth about tick-borne encephalitis contribute to profits?!

If you try to find answers to these questions, you will most likely receive information that will plunge you into despondency, or even into deep depression.

In the spring, residents of the Urals are afraid to go out into the forest again, en masse take out insurance against encephalitis, buy vaccinations and pray that terrible disease bypassed them.

For example, using an Internet search, you will most likely get this or similar information: percentage encephalitis ticks differs in different regions.

In the European territory of Russia, no more than a few percent of all ticks are infected with the encephalitis virus.

In Siberia and the Far East - up to 20%.

We live in the Urals, which is almost Siberia, so the percentage of encephalitis ticks seems to be closer to 20.

Here is another article, already in a local tabloid online newspaper: out of 250 insects, about 10-12% are affected by a dangerous disease.

Very similar to the truth.

It turns out that you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting it. serious illness, after which if you don’t play in the grave, you’ll probably remain crippled.

Of course, if you are bitten by a tick, you must go immediately and pay 230 rubles. for insect research!

It’s even better if you are insured - only 100 rubles, but in case of illness you will be provided with immunoglobulin for free, which without insurance will cost 4,270 (if your weight is approximately 70 kg - 7 ampoules of 610 rubles each).

And you definitely have to pay for the encephalitis vaccination!

Haven't you done any of this yet?

Feeling afraid?

Does your blood run cold?

Can you already imagine yourself shaking in convulsions in a hospital bed?

I've only been bitten by ticks a couple of times in my entire life, but I was lucky (pah-pah).

In addition, I only knew one person who I knew had suffered from encephalitis, and even that was in distant childhood.

Is everyone silent?

Or maybe there is some happy coincidence in my social circle?

My mother lived in Krasnoyarsk as a child.

There were four children in the family; right behind the house there was a dense taiga, in which they walked for days on end.

Almost every evening the grandfather took ticks out of the tomboys, after lubricating them with kerosene.

Mom doesn’t remember a single case of encephalitis, much less a death from this disease, in the entire district.

Forgetfulness?

Luck again?

Now let's get to the main part.

Ministry of Health Chelyabinsk region On October 22, 2010, it released an interesting document that contains specific numbers and sheds light on the true situation with the incidence of encephalitis in the southern Urals.

Please note that this is official information, according to which for 9 months of 2010, 17,029 victims of tick bites were registered, that is, 0.52% of the entire population of the Chelyabinsk region, 3.5 million people by the way.

The incidence of encephalitis is 2.77 per 100 thousand people, that is, 0.0027% of the entire population.

The probability that a tick bite will lead to encephalitis is 0.53%.

But this figure does not take into account unregistered cases of bites, taking into account which we would get a significantly lower probability.

It turns out that out of 100 rubles you spent on insurance against encephalitis, only 10 kopecks directly relate to encephalitis, and the remaining 99.9% of the amount goes to the activities of the insurance company and profits into the pockets of its owners.

Not a bad jackpot, isn't it?

Now is it clear to you who is whipping up all this hysteria in the media and for what purpose?

In conclusion, I would like to make it clear that I am not at all discouraging vaccinations, insurance, etc., and in no way am I opposed to all of this.

I just presented the facts, described the real situation and revealed the illusion in which millions of people live and which was created solely for the sake of enriching a certain circle of people.

– infection, which is based on damage to the brain and spinal cord a flavivirus transmitted to humans through the bites of ixodid ticks. Depending on the form of the disease, its manifestations are fever, headache, convulsions, vomiting, impaired coordination of movements, pain along the nerves, flaccid paresis and paralysis. The diagnosis is confirmed using PCR of blood and cerebrospinal fluid. Treatment for early stages disease consists of prescribing immunoglobulin against tick-borne encephalitis and antiviral drugs. On later Only prevention of life-threatening conditions and symptomatic treatment are possible.

General information

Treatment includes specific (directed at the pathogen), pathogenetic (blocking the mechanisms of disease development) and symptomatic therapy. The patient is prescribed strict bed rest. Scheme specific treatment depends on the time that has passed since the first symptoms appeared. At the very beginning of the disease (first week) high efficiency showed the appointment of anti-tick immunoglobulin to patients. It is administered over 3 days. Also when early diagnosis good results provides the use of antiviral drugs: ribonuclease, ribavirin, interferon, potato shoot extract.

All of these drugs are ineffective late stages diseases when the virus has already infected the central nervous system. In this case, treatment is aimed not at combating the causative agent of the disease, but at the pathological mechanisms life threatening patient. To do this, use oxygen supply through a mask, mechanical ventilation in case of breathing problems, diuretics to reduce intracranial pressure, drugs that increase the brain's resistance to oxygen starvation, neuroleptics.

Forecast and prevention of tick-borne encephalitis

The prognosis for tick-borne encephalitis depends on the degree of damage to the nervous system. In the febrile form, as a rule, all patients recover completely. In the meningeal form, the prognosis is also favorable, however, in some cases, persistent complications from the central nervous system may be observed in the form of chronic headaches and the development of migraines. The focal form of tick-borne encephalitis has the most unfavorable prognosis. The mortality rate can reach 30 people per 100 cases. Complications of this form are the occurrence of persistent paralysis, convulsive syndrome, and decreased mental abilities.

Prevention of tick-borne encephalitis is divided into 2 areas: organizational measures and vaccination. Organizational events consist of training residents of endemic regions (places where the disease is spread) to observe the rules for visiting forest areas and outdoor recreation areas during the period of tick activity: wearing clothing that covers most bodies (with long sleeves and trousers, Panama hats or caps on the head); thorough examination of clothing and body to identify live ticks; immediate appeal behind medical care in case of detection of a sucking insect; disclaimer self-removal a tick attached to the skin; applying repellent to clothes before a walk; mandatory boiling of milk, purchasing dairy products only from official producers.

Vaccination includes: passive immunization - administration of immunoglobulin to patients who have not previously been vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis (in case of a tick bite) and active immunization - vaccination of residents of the area where the disease is spread 1 month before the season of tick activity.

Tick-borne encephalitis is a very dangerous and relatively new viral disease, which was discovered only in the 30s of the twentieth century. Now humanity has developed effective methods protection and control of this disease, but for full protection it is very important to understand how encephalitis is transmitted, and also whether encephalitis is transmitted from person to person?

Routes of transmission of tick-borne encephalitis

The circulation of viral encephalitis becomes possible with constant exchange between warm-blooded animals (rodents, birds, etc.), as well as ixodid ticks. These warm-blooded hosts typically have asymptomatic diseases. When a tick bites such an animal, the virus is transmitted to it, where it begins to multiply, penetrating into salivary glands, reproductive system. The infection persists in the tick's body for life, observed at all phases of its development - adult, larva, nymph.

How can you become infected with encephalitis?

Tick-borne encephalitis, the mechanism of transmission of which to humans is based on circulation between different types animals, most dangerous to humans. Infection occurs through the bite of a tick vector. When sucking blood, a tick releases a virus into a person’s blood, so the longer it stays on your body, the more infection penetrates the body, and the more dangerous the disease will be. This is why it is very important to remove the tick as soon as you notice it.

Additional routes of transmission of tick-borne encephalitis:

• Infection is also possible when removing a tick if you crush it on your body. Try to do this carefully and not damage the carrier's body.
• An additional mechanism of transmission of infection is the consumption of milk from an infected animal by humans; such cases are most often observed with goat milk. Infection through milk is only possible if it has not been boiled. The danger of this method of transmission is that the virus can affect the entire family at once.

Viral tick-borne encephalitis is a seasonal disease that is directly related to peaks in the activity of its vectors. So, highest probability infection with tick-borne encephalitis is observed in the spring-summer period, namely in May-June, as well as August-September. But the danger of infection remains throughout the warm period (April-September).

Is encephalitis transmitted from person to person?

A person infected with tick-borne encephalitis is absolutely safe for other people, since the virus is not transmitted between people. You can only become infected using the methods described earlier.