The incidence of Lyme disease increased by more than one and a half times in the first half of the year, and cases of tick-borne encephalitis also increased slightly, according to data published by the National Public Health Center.
In the first half of this year, 792 cases of Lyme disease were registered in Lithuania, and 99 people fell ill with tick-borne encephalitis, the National Public Health Center informed.
Last year, in the same period, 488 cases of Lyme disease were recorded, and there were a dozen fewer cases of encephalitis registered last year.
"This year, in the mentioned period, we observe an increased incidence of Lyme disease in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Utena, Alytus counties, and 11-12 cases of higher incidence of tick-borne encephalitis," Rasa Liausėdienė, advisor of the Infectious Diseases Management Department of the NVSC National Public Health Center, informed BNS this week. .
The most cases of Lyme disease this year were found in Vilnius county - 296, Kaunas - 190 and Panevėžys - 58.
The highest number of tick-borne encephalitis fell in Vilnius county - 35 people, 19 cases were recorded in Kaunas county, 11 in Klaipėda county.
The peak incidence of both diseases has so far been recorded in June: 288 cases of Lyme disease and 59 cases of tick-borne encephalitis.
Last year, 377 cases of tick-borne encephalitis were registered in Lithuania and 2380 cases of Lyme disease were identified. Compared to the data of 2021, the incidence of Lyme disease in Lithuania increased by a third last year.
Klaipėda University Hospital (KUL) said it is monitoring the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis and this week alone reported receiving several patients with this disease.
"The doctors of the Klaipėda University Hospital are worried about the sudden jump in tick-borne encephalitis cases. In the last 24 hours, four persons with this disease have been hospitalized in the Department of Infectious Diseases. "Doctors urge you not to lose vigilance, because most of the sick patients claim that they did not even notice the tick that was sucked in," the hospital informed.
According to KUL, infectious disease experts remind that vaccinations protect against tick-borne encephalitis, which help prevent serious consequences of the disease.
The author is Jurgita Andriejauskaitė
