Tick areas
and Sabine Schrör, medical journalistMareike Müller is a freelance writer in the medical department and assistant doctor for neurosurgery in Düsseldorf. She studied human medicine in Magdeburg and gained a lot of practical medical experience during her stays abroad on four different continents.
More about the expertsSabine Schrör is a freelance writer for the medical team. She studied business administration and public relations in Cologne. As a freelance editor, she has been at home in a wide variety of industries for more than 15 years. Health is one of her favorite subjects.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.A tick area is a region in which ticks occur. In addition, it is marked on the cards whether the ticks are infected with pathogens. In Central Europe, the common wood tick (Ixodes ricinus) is the most common type of tick. The species Ixodes persulcatus is predominantly found in Eastern Europe and Russia. Read everything you need to know about tick areas in Germany here.
ICD codes for this disease: ICD codes are internationally recognized codes for medical diagnoses. They can be found, for example, in doctor's letters or on certificates of incapacity for work. A84A68
Tick area Germany
There are tick areas everywhere in Germany. The small bloodsuckers prefer to live in tall grass, scrub and undergrowth - widespread shelters. However, not all ticks carry pathogens such as Borrelia and TBE viruses:
Ticks that have Borrelia (pathogen causing Borreliosis) can be found all over Germany. It is estimated that, depending on the region, between five and 35 percent of ticks are infected with these bacteria. Because Borrelia-carrying ticks occur everywhere in Germany, there is no separate tick card for this.
The situation is different with ticks that carry the TBE virus (causative agent of early summer meningoencephalitis). They have their own tick cards because they do not colonize all tick areas. Germany is home to TBE-carrying ticks, especially in the south. In this context, one speaks of an endemic area. This is a limited region in which a pathogen occurs permanently.
In southern Germany, up to five percent of all ticks carry TBE viruses. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the following regions are currently TBE areas:
- Baden-Württemberg (almost completely)
- Bavaria (almost completely)
- Hesse (especially the southern and eastern parts, occasionally in the west)
- Lower Saxony (isolated)
- Rhineland-Palatinate (isolated)
- Saarland (isolated)
- Saxony (mostly)
- Saxony-Anhalt (isolated)
- Thuringia (especially the southern and eastern part)
If there is a tick bite in one of these regions, there is an increased risk of TBE. Exactly how high it is varies: in the different regions, different numbers of ticks are infected with the virus.
Caution: Even outside of these regions you can get infected with a tick bite with TBE virus, albeit rarely. From 2002 to 2020 there were two cases in Berlin, 18 in Brandenburg, ten in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 23 in North Rhine-Westphalia and four in Schleswig-Holstein.
Study tick areas before traveling!
If you are planning a trip to an area in the summer months in which you will also spend a lot of time in nature, you should have a look at the tick areas beforehand. This is how you can estimate the risk of infection. The same goes for trips abroad. For example, ticks carrying TBE viruses are widespread in Russia and Asia.
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