Tick-borne encephalitis: from epidemiology to vaccination recommendations in 2007. New issues--best practices.

The 9th annual meeting of the International Scientific Working Group on Tick-Borne Encephalitis (ISW TBE) was entitled "Tick-borne encephalitis: from epidemiology to vaccination recommendations in 2007, new issues--best practices". Over the past three decades, TBE has become a growing public health challenge in Europe and other parts of the world. Between 1974 and 2003, the number of reported clinical TBE cases increased by an appalling 400 %, the only exception having been Austria. This increase is the result of a complex interplay of social, economic, political, ecological and climatic factors, the relative weight of which is not easily quantifiable. Important projects and issues for the future work of the ISW TBE have been identified, such as implementing a standardized TBE case definition, raising awareness of TBE among travellers, availability of rapid immunization schemes, increasing vaccination rates in endemic countries, and publishing information on TBE cases.