Tick season is getting longer in Germany and ticks are becoming more widespread. Recent figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) have revealed that the number of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) cases is rising sharply.

RKI records increase in Germany’s TBE cases

Between January and October 2024, Germany recorded 582 cases of TBE, 145 more than in the same period last year. The 2023 and 2024 figures for this limited period both exceed the number Germany recorded in the entirety of 2022, which stood at 546 cases.

TBE is a viral infection disease commonly passed on via ticks from small mammals like mice, to humans. Not all ticks have TBE, but if you are bitten by a tick carrying TBE and you have not been vaccinated against the disease, you may become infected. TBE attacks the central nervous system and commonly has two stages; the first is fatigue and headaches and the second is brain inflammation.

In 99 percent of TBE cases in Germany, those who develop the disease have not been vaccinated. However, according to the RKI only a small number of people in Germany’s tick-risk areas - Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria - have been vaccinated. In 2020, the nationwide TBE vaccine quota lay at just 20 percent.

If you are covered by German health insurance and live in or are travelling to Baden-Württemberg or Bavaria, you can get vaccinated against TBE at your doctor’s practice for free. The TBE vaccine has two injections which must be administered at least two weeks apart and at least one month before visiting a risk region. You can then have an annual booster.

Climate change means tick risk areas are growing

Ticks are only active when the temperature is over 6 degrees celsius, but as warm weather becomes more common in Germany, the tick season is extending. Summer 2024 was the hottest ever recorded in the Global North and in Germany, warm temperatures have continued into the autumn.

Rising temperatures also mean ticks are spreading across Germany. Alongside Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, new areas are being added to Germany’s tick risk map.

These include southern Hesse, southeastern Thuringia, Lower Saxony and southeastern Brandenburg. There are also smaller risk areas in central Hesse (Marburg-Biedenkopf district), Saarland (Saar-Palatinate district), Rhineland-Palatinate (Birkenfeld) and Saxony (Vogtland district).

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