There’s been a massive rise in cases of tick-borne encephalitis this year – and it’s due to the heat wave. By the beginning of this month, there have been more than 300 cases – ten years ago, the expected number would have been around 100.
If the weather is hot, its thought around one in a hundred ticks carry the virus – but in cooler summers, that can be as low as one in a thousand.
The tick spread is now wider than it has ever been – and they’re being found at higher altitudes. It’s possible to pick up a bite at 2000 meters.
Only a third of the population have had a vaccination against the disease. A Zurich expert, Dr Norbert Satz, told the Tribune de Genève, that's far too low and points out Austria’s vaccination rate is closer to 90%.
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