Examination of tick-borne encephalitis foci in the Middle Volga Region to optimize their prevention

Despite the fact that the epidemiology of tick-borne virus encephalitis (TBVE) in the forest-steppe zone of the Middle Volga Region has been studied for many decades, the data on the manifestation of this arbovirus infection and the specific features of its spread remain still incomplete. As of now, the Ulyanovsk Region notifies sporadic cases as the subclinical and feverish clinical forms of TBVE, which manifest as self-relieved forms that require no special treatment. Examination of the ticks taken from 19 persons (in 2007-2008) identified tick-borne encephalitis virus antigen and a serological assay revealed immunoglobulins M only in one case without visible clinical manifestations. In this connection, in the package of prophylactic measures, there is extreme prevention using specific homologous antitick-borne immunoglobulin in persons with adhered ticks by suction, as well as a permanently immunological screening of the persons in contact with ticks, thereby promoting the establishment of the true spread of TBVE in the areas having no active natural foci of this infection, which have a dominant role in their efficiency when correctly made in the areas with the small activity of natural TBVE foci.