Wednesday's Raadio 2 program "Paev", spoke to Mattis Rätsep who spent 10 days in intensive care after contracting the viral infection. After that, recovery took around six weeks.

Rätsep said the disease had two stages. During the first, he experienced symptoms similar to a mild cold, but the second was far worse. Two weeks later he came down with a 40-degree fever, nausea, severe headache, and dizziness. He then developed meningitis. Now, Rätsep is in good health again. 

Pille Märtin, head of the infection control department of Lääne-Tallinn Central Hospital, said, that in rare cases, tick-borne encephalitis can lead to permanent paralysis. In very rare cases it can also result in death. Patients often need to be hospitalized and need a ventilator to help them breathe.  

Rätsep got his tick on a hiking trail. He noticed it on the same day and removed it as soon as possible. When he first felt ill, he did not connect the two incidents.

"If serious disease symptoms appear two weeks later, you don't immediately connect the dots that it is from a tick," he said. 

Märtin said it does not matter how quickly the tick is removed. "The virus enters a person at the same moment a tick bites. It doesn't even need to crawl into who knows what. Once the virus is in the person, there's nothing you can do. The sooner you get the right diagnosis, the better. There is no other way but to suffer through it," the doctor said. 

There is a very effective vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis virus, which can prevent the disease. And now is the right time to get vaccinated.

Ticks are on the move in early spring when the temperature is consistently between 5–7 degrees. Märtin said: "There are probably still a few weeks to go before they reach full activity."

The parasites like a warm and moist environment and they will quickly multiply in a favorable environment.  "A mother tick can lay 500-5,000 eggs, not all of which will reach adulthood. The longer and warmer the springs, summers and autumns, the greater the chance of them reaching adulthood," she explained. 

Last year, 209 people contracted tick-borne encephalitis in Estonia. Data from the Health Board shows the number of cases has almost tripled over the last three years.

Almost 70 percent of ticks in urban environments carry pathogens dangerous to humans, a study by the National Institute for Health Development (Tervise Arengu Instituut) shows.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!