Tick-borne Encephalitis, Slovakia | CDC EID

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Volume 16, Number 3–March 2010
Dispatch
Climate Warming and Tick-borne Encephalitis, Slovakia
Martin Lukan, Eva Bullova, and Branislav Petko
Author affiliations: University of Žilina, Tatranská Javorina, Slovakia (M. Lukan); Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia (M. Lukan, E. Bullova, B. Petko); and Catholic University Ružomberok Faculty of Health, Ružomberok, Slovakia (B. Petko)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Increased tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) cases have been reported in central Europe. To investigate temporal trends in the altitude at which TBE cases occur in Slovakia, we analyzed the number of TBE cases during 1961–2004. Since 1980, TBE cases moved from lowlands to submountainous areas, most likely because of rising temperature.
The recent increase in incidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in central and eastern Europe, especially since 1990, has been attributed to climate warming (1–5) or various socioeconomic factors (6,7). Climate warming in Europe during the past decades has been shown to influence the distribution of Ixodes ricinus ticks, the main TBE vector, in several European countries (4,5,8). In central Europe, a sharp increase of TBE has been reported (9,10). Zeman and Beneš showed that global warming affected the geographic and temporal distribution of TBE cases in the Czech Republic (2). Similar development of TBE vertical distribution could be expected in neighboring Slovakia. To investigate temporal trends in the altitude at which TBE cases occur (altitude for TBE) in Slovakia and TBE response to climate warming, we analyzed the total number of TBE cases recorded for persons in Slovakia during 1961–2004.

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Suggested Citation for this Article
Lukan M, Bullova E, Petko B. Climate warming and tick-borne encephalitis, Slovakia. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Mar [date cited
http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/3/524.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1603.081364