Ticks themselves do not cause disease but if a tick is infected with a virus or bacterium, then that pathogen can be transmitted through the tick’s bite and cause disease in humans.
The First Annual meeting of the new joint ECDC-EFSA project ‘VectorNet’, the European network for sharing data on the geographic distribution of arthropod vectors, transmitting human and animal disease agents, was held on 27-29 January 2015 in Parma.
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever is endemic in the Balkan region and a few sporadic cases are reported on a regular basis. In the WHO European Region, Turkey remains the country that is most affected. The main vector for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, the tick Hyalomma marginatum, has a wide distribution in Europe.
The objective of this expert consultation was to guide, harmonize and enhance the surveillance and prevention of tick-borne diseases in EU Member States, with special emphasis on Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis.