%0 Journal Article %T Tick-borne encephalitis virus in dogs - is this an issue? %A Martin Pfeffer %A Gerhard Dobler %J Parasites & Vectors %D 2011 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1756-3305-4-59 %X Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is the most important tick-borne viral disease of humans in Eurasia with an estimated annual number up to 10,000 cases in Russia and 3,000 cases in Europe [1-5]. TBE is caused by the zoonotic tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a member of the genus Flavivirus within the Flaviviridae family [6]. It is classified as a single virus species with three subtypes, i.e. the European subtype, the Siberian subtype (mainly isolates east of the Ural and Siberia) and the Far Eastern subtype (mainly isolates from far-eastern Russia, China and Japan) together representing the geographic distribution of the virus [6,7]. The three TBE virus subtypes are differing with regard to disease severity [1,8,9]. The most severe form of TBE infections with Far Eastern subtype TBE viruses can cause severe febrile illness, frequently associated with encephalitis and a fatality rate up to 35% [10,11]. In contrast, TBE virus infections of the Siberian subtype cause a less severe disease (fatality rate between 1 and 3%). However, these clinical infections have a tendency to become a chronic disease or to cause extremely prolonged infections in some patients [12,13]. Infections caused by European strains typically take a biphasic course. The first viraemic phase presents with fever, malaise, headache, myalgia, sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms, leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia and elevated liver enzymes after an incubation period of one to two weeks. These non-specific symptoms last for about 2-4 days, often followed by a symptom-free interval of up to one week. The second phase of TBE occurs in approximately one-quarter of the infected patients and shows the clinical signs of meningitis, meningoencephalitis, meningoencephalomyelitis or meningoencephaloradiculitis of different severity. The fatality rate in adult patients is comparable to that caused by the Siberian subtype TBE virus, but is usually less than 2%. However, neurological sequelae may last for months %U http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/4/1/59