title: Vaccination and tick-borne encephalitis, central Europe.
abstract: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a substantial public health problem in many parts of Europe and Asia. To assess the effect of increasing TBE vaccination coverage in Austria, we compared incidence rates over 40 years for highly TBE-endemic countries of central Europe (Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Austria). For all 3 countries we found extensive annual and longer range fluctuations and shifts in distribution of patient ages, suggesting major variations in the complex interplay of factors influencing risk for exposure to TBE virus. The most distinctive effect was found for Austria, where mass vaccination decreased incidence to ≈16% of that of the prevaccination era. Incidence rates remained high for the nonvaccinated population. The vaccine was effective for persons in all age groups. During 2000-2011 in Austria, ≈4,000 cases of TBE were prevented by vaccination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. franz.x.heinz@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Franz X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Heinz
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stiasny
authors.forename: Heidemarie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Holzmann
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grgic-Vitek
authors.forename: Bohumir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kriz
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Essl
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kundi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000276:immunology*; D004675:Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D032541:Mass Vaccination; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D017524:Slovenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D014765:Viral Vaccines