Tick Alert: 25 People Hospitalized with TBE This Year

Since the beginning of the year until last Friday, over 2,650 ticks have already been sent to AGES by the public. However, a comparison with previous years regarding the occurrence of the animals is difficult, it was reported.

Tick Monitoring in Austria Under Development

Until last year, there was no nationwide tick monitoring in Austria, as emphasized by the Agency for Health and Food Safety in response to an APA inquiry to classify the current tick year. In the SURVector project, which has been running since the beginning of 2024, a nationwide mosquito and tick monitoring is being established. The goal of the project is to set up surveillance for newly emerging pathogens, with mosquitoes and ticks being collected and tested for relevant pathogens. Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) are the most common tick-borne diseases in Austria. There is an effective vaccine against TBE.

SURVector is designed as a citizen science project. Interested parties can submit ticks to AGES, which are then microscopically identified to determine the species. Some of the received samples are examined molecularly using PCR for the presence of pathogens. In 2024 - the entire first year of the national tick monitoring program - a total of 1,420 ticks were submitted from all over Austria.

Tick Submission at AGES

With 2,650 ticks submitted by June 20 this year, almost twice as many animals have been delivered to AGES as in the entire previous year. The largest share, as in 2024, is made up of ticks of the genus Ixodes (common wood tick, 95.1 percent), followed by Dermacentor (meadow tick, 4.4 percent) and Haemaphysalis (relict tick, 0.4 percent). The species I. ricinus, I. hexagonus, D. reticulatus, D. marginatus, and Ha. concinna were also detected.

Most ticks in 2025 came from Lower Austria (40 percent), followed by Upper Austria (19.8 percent) and Styria (17.4 percent). So far this year, 940 ticks have been tested for Borrelia, the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis. Of these, 208 animals were positive (22.1 percent). Rickettsia were found in 15.6 percent of all ticks. Anaplasma phagocytophilum (5.8 percent), Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis (2.0 percent), and the relapsing fever Borrelia species Borrelia miyamotoi (0.6 percent) have also already been detected this year, reported AGES.

Greater Tick Spread with Climate Change

Three giant ticks (Hyalomma marginatum) were also submitted, which were associated with a stay in Croatia. Two of them have already been examined molecularly and tested negative for Crimean-Congo fever. Crimean-Congo fever is a viral disease that can be fatal. Hyalomma ticks are originally native to warmer regions of Southeast Europe and Asia, but for several years now, specimens have also been found in Austria. Ticks have spread with climate change. The altitude limit of 1,000 meters above sea level has not existed for a long time. Individual sites are located above 1,500 meters above sea level.

(APA/Red)

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