Zug,24.07.2018

Four cases of tick-borne encephalitis reported in canton so far this year

Whereas last year the cantonal doctor was informed only about one case of tick-borne encephalitis, this year this figure has risen to four.

According to the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease has risen across the country this year.

As of the end of June this year, 150 cases of tick-borne encephalitis in the country as a whole had been reported to the BAG, while further information indicates that as many as 21,300 patients, also by the end of June, had sought an appointment with their doctors as a result of a tick bite. Compared with 2017, both figures have increased significantly.

For his part, cantonal doctor Hanspeter Kläy said he could not provide information about the number of tick bites and subsequent related visits to the doctor here in Zug as tick bites alone do not have to be reported to him, nor to the BAG. On the other hand, cases of tick-borne encephalitis do, with four cases so far this year having been reported to the cantonal doctor; this compares with just one case last year, as mentioned. As Dr Kläy confirmed, “The whole of the canton is regarded as an area of risk for tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease and has been indicated as such on maps issued by the BAG since 2013.”

For her part, Sonja Metzger of the Cantonal Hospital said no statistics were kept about any tick bites or diseases resulting from them there. However, when journalists of the Zuger Zeitung enquired at various GPs in the canton, most doctors said they had had an increased number of patients relating to tick bites. Doctors at a Steinhausen practice, for example, said they had had an increased number of patients seeing them in this regard though fortunately these had resulted only in harmless reddening around the bite.

“When we get telephone enquiries relating to this we always ask patients if they have recently been in woodland or areas of long grass and whether they have been able to remove the tick. Then we ask them to circle the area of skin with a marker,” said surgery assistant there, Sarina Heggeler. “If it looks as if part of the tick is still in the skin, or people develop a temperature, or the reddening spreads beyond the area they circled, then we advise them to consult a doctor.”

Dr Philipp Jandl of Zug and the Anklin pharmacy also reported they had had more enquires about tick bites this year, with more people asking to be immunised against diseases resulting from tick bites.

Immunisation against tick-borne encephalitis is regarded as advisable to all people over the age of six who live in risk areas. Residents of the canton of Zug do not have to pay.

No immunisation is possible in the case of Lyme disease, though, if caught in the early stages, it can be treated with antibiotics. What should also be mentioned is that only 0.3 to 1.4 per cent of people bitten by ticks go onto develop the disease.