Council of Health: Employers in “high-risk jobs” must offer vaccination against tick bites

Anyone who is regularly exposed to ticks while on the job should be vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) by their employer. This is what the Board of Health wrote Thursday in view To the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. The Netherlands does not currently offer a TBE vaccination program because the risk of contracting a tick bite, unlike contracting Lyme disease, is very low in the country.

Unlike Lyme disease, an effective vaccine is available for tick-borne encephalitis. For good protection, three different injections are required, which cost €69 separately. The Board of Health wants employers to take responsibility by offering the TBE vaccination to employees who regularly get tick bites — that is, five or more times per year. The advisory body mainly refers to the work done in areas of forests, sand dunes, heaths, parks and gardens. They will be more at risk of a tick bite and therefore infection with the TBE virus as well. The same applies to employees who may have come into contact with the TBE virus, such as in laboratories.

Sixteen patients

Infected ticks transmit the infectious disease caused by the TBE virus (tick-borne encephalitis) through tick bites from animal to animal and sometimes to humans. According to the RIVM, the virus was only found abroad until recently. That changed when, in the spring of 2016, there were indications of deer infection in the Netherlands, and the virus was detected in Dutch ticks, including in Salandse Heuvelrug and Utrechtse Heuvelrug. Between 2016 and 2022, medical laboratories and GGDs were registered Sixteen patients developed tick-borne encephalitis occurred in the Netherlands.

If infected, people usually have no or mild flu-like symptoms. Sometimes the virus causes meningitis (inflammation of the meninges) or encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). In addition, complaints persist for a long time and in rare cases the virus is fatal.

It became last year According to RIVM Wageningen University and Research (WUR) reported a third fewer tick bites than in previous years. On an annual basis, around 1.5 million cases of tick bites are recorded in the Netherlands. Most reports came from Gelderland, followed by North Brabant and North Holland.