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TBE Vaccines – Visitors and residents in Austria and eastern Alps

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
This is a bit of a public service announcement, as I only became aware recently, over a year since moving to Austria. This morning I had the first vaccine for tick-borne encephalitis – I have to go back next month for the second dose (it will be fully effective at this point) and then next year for a booster.

As this isn't something that occurs in the UK, most people won't have had it, but it may be worthwhile if you live in or are visiting Switzerland, Austria, Germany and other parts of the eastern Alps outside of the winter season and take part in outdoor activities like hiking, climbing or mountain biking. The risk is low, but TBE is nasty and there is no cure, where as the vaccine is effective and so seems like a no brainer to me.

Austrian healthcare, being as efficient as it is, left the staff in the doctor's thinking we were mad when the response to a question about making an appointment came as "why, do you not want it now?". They were also troubled by our lack of international vaccination records, but next time I'll be sure to take with me the card my mum wrote out in the 1980s Laughing

More info here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tick-borne-encephalitis/
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Scarlet, also, you need to have the first injection at least a month before you travel and it's not available on the NHS. about £65 from a travel clinic
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
You can also get it done in Boots which is where @Lampbus got his a couple of years ago but they do it as a one-time-thing with no boosters as these are apparently not needed...
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@schneeflocke, controversial contradictory advice! As @holidayloverxx implies, the reason for starting a month earlier is so that you have time for two doses. The doctor said that we would be covered after two, but after about a year coverage drops off without the booster. We were told we would need another about every three years.

I wonder if the difference is because Boots, as a travel clinic, are only considering short-term coverage for the means of a holiday?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Scarlet, that makes sense. Boots say you should have it 6-8 weeks before travel
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Probably something like that - I got mine done in Germany and it was also 3 over a period of time which reminds me I need to check whether I should have a booster shot at some point. Spending a week on the German North Sea coast though this summer & I think the infected ticks have not quite made it there. Probably just a question of time!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
We get it done at work. It's a bit reminiscent of school jabs, everyone queuing up outside the nurse's room looking nervous... Laughing
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
For Germany, I think it's basically only the southern half that's infected with TBE (could be different for Lyme disease). The map says I'm right on the edge of the area of prevalence. I just try to avoid MTB/Hiking trails where you're likely to brush up against greenery during the summer months, especially in the forest where bambi and friends live (which is a lot).
Nasty black flies and mosquitos predicted for this year too. I think the rabies signs have come down now, since that passed the 20 year limit.
I think UK is just beginning to take Lyme disease a bit more seriously now.
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@andy, Around here, if you're on the mountain "roads" I think you'd be fine, but once you get onto the trails and mountain paths, you're climbing over fallen trees and stumps, hacking through grass and brambles and I think you'd struggle not to come into contact with vegetation.

Afaik, there is no vaccine for Lyme disease, but it can be treated with antibiotics. I fcking hate mosquitos so if anyone has any effective ways of dealing with the bstards beyond splatting, I'd be interested Toofy Grin
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I could be wrong but isn`t the risk of infection only if the tick remains in place for some time? Advice I received when querying the need for the TBE vaccination a little over a decade ago (camping/walking etc in known areas of infection) was to check everyone thoroughly after being in 'tick territory' and to remove any ticks asap. The vaccination was not deemed necessary for visitors. (advice was also to keep skin covered and use deet)
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@CaravanSkier, @Scarlet's link explains more.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Hells Bells wrote:
@CaravanSkier, @Scarlet's link explains more.



It does indeed, thank you.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Info on the high risk areas in Germany https://www.zecken.de/en/tbe-germany and more generally https://www.zecken.de/en/tbe-europe .

It also points out that even in high risk areas the chances of a tick bite leading to an TBE infection are fairly small, around 1 in 150. However given that it is potentially pretty serious it is best to get the injection if you are likely to be outside in areas of high risk.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Avon skin so soft spray @Scarlet, I’ve used it Spain, Caribbean and Switzerland - no bites!! My son had to be jabbed as they go to forest school with nursery once a week and the whole of Switzerland except Geneva is a red zone apparently!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@Nadenoodlee, this stuff https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avon-Mosquito-Insect-Repellent-Original-x/dp/B071KFZNJ3?tag=amz07b-21 ? For the mozzies you mean? If I need to cover myself in it head to toe, I guess I’d need a fair few bottles @100ml Laughing
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
That’s the stuff but a bottle lasts me about a month per daily application. You can buy it direct from Avon or I get my mum to ship it to me. I was hugely cynical but it really works! Using it on holiday now and have one bite from when I naively started ‘there were no mozzies- I don’t need spray’ but have been whacking it ok since then and have not been eaten!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Nadenoodlee, i thought they had changed the formula?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Quote:

forest school with nursery

there's a kindergarten here that does stuff in the forest
one kid found a WW2 incendiary bomb and took it back to the classroom to show teacher!
ticks aren't the only nasty things out there

only found out when MTBing thru there once, to find they'd put up laminated A4 signs saying to stay on the path, and cordoned off one square of forest with tape (that wouldn't last long in a breeze). That's the area I've seen the most bambis so I'd never have ventured off the main thru route anyway, expecting it to be Lyme/TBE laden tick fest. at least the rabies warning signs have gone now.
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We have friends who were sailing in Sweden a couple of years ago and were strongly advised to have the jabs to protect against tick borne encephalitis.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Pamski wrote:
We have friends who were sailing in Sweden a couple of years ago and were strongly advised to have the jabs to protect against tick borne encephalitis.

Does Sweden have Aquaticks?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
@BoardieK, I am not sure what you mean. They were visiting many of the islands, walking, cycling etc so amongst grass.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Pamski, sailing...water...aquatics
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Scarlet wrote:


As this isn't something that occurs in the UK, most people won't have had it, but it may be worthwhile if you live in or are visiting Switzerland, Austria, Germany and other parts of the eastern Alps outside of the winter season and take part in outdoor activities like hiking, climbing or mountain biking. The risk is low, but TBE is nasty and there is no cure, where as the vaccine is effective and so seems like a no brainer to me.


Same problem in the French alps along with tiger mosquitos and all the crap they are infected with.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Scarlet wrote:
I fcking hate mosquitos so if anyone has any effective ways of dealing with the bstards beyond splatting, I'd be interested Toofy Grin


In that case I think you'll find this intereresting: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/30/727884309/scientists-genetically-modify-fungus-to-kill-mosquitoes-that-spread-malaria?t=1559979410416
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
@holidayloverxx, no idea - but smells the same to me.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@holidayloverxx, yes I got aquaticks, I just wondered if there was a point I was missing.

I think it was two years ago and the friends here who were going to join the boat for different parts of the cruising all were strongly advised to go and have the vaccinations which they did, apart from one chap who has existing medical conditions and takes medication, who was advised not to have the vaccinations and didn’t go on the trip.
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