An illness that begins like the flu can end sadly – the teacher has listed its specific symptoms

Only about half of those infected notice the infested mite

It is not always possible to notice that the mite has infiltrated, although public health experts strongly recommend a close inspection of these arachnids when they return from the wild.

“Almost 50 percent of people infected with tick-borne encephalitis generally do not notice the infested ticks,” said Professor Ligita Jančorienė, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at Vilnius University Santara Clinics.

However, if there is a warm period of the year, the person has recently visited nature, has a farm or lives near the forest and has not been vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis, the above symptoms may make doctors suspect that the person has a tick-borne disease. Only the professor warned: do not try to diagnose the disease yourself. There are doctors for that.

According to L. Jančorienė, at the beginning of the disease, in the febrile phase, tick-borne encephalitis does not present any specific symptoms and does not differ from other diseases with similar symptoms. Doctors with tick-borne encephalitis wouldn’t suspect it until mid-winter.

“If we are in the middle of winter, when it is snowing, obviously we do not think about tick-borne encephalitis. However, if it is summer, the disease is very typical.” If a person has not been vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis, he has been in the wild and has also seen the tick himself, so with tick-borne encephalitis he can differentiate any fever, even if it appears to be caused by a tooth abscess, “said the professor.

Seasonality is very important, as ticks are no longer active when the daily temperature drops below 8 degrees.

Distinctive signs appear during the second wave

Therefore, the first wave of tick-borne encephalitis begins without specific symptoms unique to the disease. The distinctive symptoms appear only at the beginning of the second wave. So, according to the interlocutor, they will not be confused with either the flu or the coronavirus infection. With the onset of the second wave, the orientation of the person in time and place is disturbed, so-called focal symptoms occur, when the person can not even raise his hand.

The Center for Communicable Diseases and AIDS states that during the second phase, it develops by 20-30%. In infected individuals, symptoms of damage to the capsid, membrane, and envelope of structural proteins are detected, and inflammatory changes occur in the cerebrospinal fluid.

The form of the disease can range in severity from mild to severe. Up to 4 percent. those infected with tick-borne encephalitis die and about one-third do not fully recover.

“The residual phenomena are diverse: from very mild to very severe, from anxiety, insomnia, mood swings for the rest of their life to paresis, paralysis. Children may have impaired mental development, the ability to concentrate and perform work The residual phenomena can vary from vegetative complications to serious neurological complications, “said the portal. Delphi said L. Jančorienė.

I can only help vaccinations

When asked if it was possible to escape the consequences of tick-borne encephalitis, L. Jančorienė said that he did not have much time to see a doctor.

“A person needs to be vaccinated because there is no specific treatment. If a person is not vaccinated, no one will be spared much from the consequences: if there is a second wave, and there will be. There are vaccines, but there is no specific treatment. There is no vaccine against Lyme borreliosis, but there is a specific antibacterial treatment, and there is no treatment for tick-borne viral encephalitis, ”the doctor warned.

The professor assured that if a person is vaccinated according to the vaccination schedule, there is no risk of tick-borne encephalitis. Vaccines protect against disease 100 percent.

“There is a primary immunization from three vaccines, then, according to age, every 3-5 years. If a person is vaccinated normally, he runs no risk. And if he is not vaccinated, just as God will give, so will he be ”Said L. Jančorienė.

The incidence has increased considerably

ULAC reports that the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis has increased considerably this year. During the first half of this year there were 136 cases of this disease. This is almost a third more than last year during the same period, as there were 99 cases.

Nine out of ten, the cases this year were adults (126 cases), the rest, children (7.4%). Most of the sick. There were 85 and 51 women. Eight out of ten were hospitalized for various types of tick-borne encephalitis.

When asked if the doctors at the Santara clinics felt that the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis had increased, L. Jančorienė replied: “Every year we have increased tick-borne encephalitis infections in the summer. Lithuania is one of the most endemic countries in the world, as only a small part of society is vaccinated. There is no state program that vaccinates the majority of the Lithuanian population. So as long as there is no critical mass vaccinated population, that morbidity will not occur anywhere.

Educated people have an inner culture, they are all vaccinated. They know, they appreciate the situation, the environment in which they live. They know that if Lithuania, like other Baltic countries, stands out with tick-borne encephalitis, they come and vaccinate themselves, they vaccinate their parents and children. If people ignore it, they run the risk of getting sick, that’s the reality. “