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18. 02. 10. - 12:00

FSME moving west in Austria

FSME (early-summer tick-borne encephalitis) is steadily moving west and higher in mountainous regions, according to Vienna virologist Franz X. Heinz.

He said yesterday (Weds): "The virus is moving steadily westwards. Its strongholds are Upper Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol."

Astrid Eßl from polling firm GfK Austria said polls in recent years had shown that the number of Austrians who have been vaccinated against FSME had been stable to slightly lower.

She said the percentage of Austrians who said they had no fear of the disease had risen from 19 to 25 per cent between 2005 and 2009. She added: "Sixty per cent of Tyroleans know that FSME is dangerous, but they underestimate the danger in parks and gardens."

Eßl added that Carinthia had the highest percentage of vaccinated people, 92 per cent, followed by Burgenland and Styria, both at 91 per cent. Vorarlberg had the lowest percentage, 62 per cent.

Christine Freund from self-help group Tick Victims added that failure to be vaccinated could result in endless suffering and huge expenses if a person got the disease.

She said five people who had contracted the disease had spent 25 years in intensive care at a combined cost of 17 million Euros.

People who are vaccinated need boosters every five years while those older than 60 must have them every three years. The vaccine costs 23.20 Euros for children younger than 16 and 27.30 Euros for adults.

There were 79 cases of FSME last year in Austria, including three in Vienna, four in Lower Austria, three in Burgenland, 17 in Styria, 12 in Carinthia, 22 in Upper Austria, three in Salzburg, 11 in Tyrol and four in Vorarlberg.

There were 86 cases in 2008 and 46 cases in 2007.

A poll last summer showed that Austrians were ignorant and negligent when it came to the danger of potentially lethal FSME.

Joshi Schillhab, chief of pollster Oekonsult, said last summer that 83 per cent of Austrians contacted during a recent poll conducted by his firm wrongly believed ticks fell on people from trees.

Two-thirds of respondents also mistakenly thought it was already too late in the year to be vaccinated against FSME, and only 18 per cent knew booster shots were necessary only every three-to-five years.

Fourteen per cent were also wrong in thinking that one vaccination was good for life, and 17 per cent wrongly believed re-vaccinations had to be carried out annually.

Austrian Times

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