Hacker News Reader

Comment by dmos62 | Hacker News Reader

In some parts of the world (e.g. the Eastern Bloc) you find tick-borne encephalitis. That's a horrible disease that can cause cerebral and neural damage. What's more, the number of reported human cases of TBE in all endemic regions of Europe have increased by almost 400% within the last three decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis

View on HN

> umber of reported human cases of TBE ... have increased by almost 400%

Specifically, following the now routine mass bird/chicken massacres of the Bird Flu panic.

It's a bad disease in the region but there's a vaccine for it readily available that you should take if you are connected to woods and nature.

And a booster lasts around 5 years I believe? So not as bothersome as a flu shot even.

Thanks for highlighting this. While most hikers are aware of the dangers of Lyme disease, the encephalitis is less well-known. I only found out about it while hiking in Slovakia a few years ago. At that stage, the hiking trip had started and it was too late to get a vaccine.

My area has a relatively high infection rate, but most people I know aren't vaccinated, even if they're somewhat aware of the dangers. Having a vaccine is not enough, you also need people to use it.

Fun fact, since I've been vaccinted against TBE, I haven't found even a single tick biting me. And I spend even more time in the nature now since the pandemic has started.

there have been vaccines against that for a long time.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com