TBE vaccine: what does Swiss health insurance cover?
Tick vaccination: does health insurance cover the TBE vaccine? What diseases do ticks carry? Comparis explains what you need to know.
03.04.2024
iStock/Leonsbox
1. What diseases are transmitted by ticks?
Ticks infected with viruses and bacteria transmit pathogens into human skin. In this way, several dangerous diseases can be transmitted. The most common are:
Lyme disease (borreliosis): depending on the region, 5% to 50% of ticks carry borreliosis bacteria. In Switzerland, between 6,000 and 10,000 people contract Lyme disease each year.
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE): about 1% of ticks carry the TBE virus. It can lead to meningitis.
2. Symptoms of tick-borne diseases
TBE: what are the symptoms?
Within one or two weeks of being bitten, you may experience flu-like symptoms. These could include:
Headaches
Fever
Fatigue
Aching joints
In about one in ten cases, meningitis or encephalitis occurs. This leads to:
Severe headache
Sensitivity to light
Dizziness
Concentration, speech or gait disorders
In rare cases, the virus can cause paralysis in the arms and legs and even death.
Lyme disease: what are the symptoms?
A well-known symptom of Lyme disease is erythema migrans. This is a red rash that expands over time. In addition, the following may be affected:
The nervous system
The musculoskeletal system
The heart
Sometimes symptoms occur only weeks or years after you are bitten.
If you receive antibiotic treatment too late, there could be lifelong consequences. These include, for example:
Osteoarthritis
Skin atrophy
Personality changes
Tick bites: picture of erythema migrans, a red ring-shape rash that appears around the bite. Source: iStock/anakopa
3. Treatment of tick-borne diseases
TBE treatment
It is very difficult to treat TBE. With treatment, doctors protect the body from the pathogen. They also alleviate symptoms and try to prevent long-term damage.
However, there is also a TBE vaccine.
Lyme disease treatment
Lyme disease is usually difficult to diagnose. This is because blood tests only show that you have at some point been infected with Lyme disease. They don’t show when. In addition, symptoms can sometimes appear years after the initial infection.
If diagnosed early, Lyme disease can be treated well with antibiotics. The dose of antibiotics and the length of treatment depend on the stage of the illness.
4. TBE vaccine: the most important questions and answers
The cost of the TBE vaccine minus the deductible is covered by basic health insurance – provided you live in an area where TBE vaccination is recommended. This is the case for most Swiss people.
Other prerequisites: a doctor must carry out or prescribe the vaccination. Would you like to get vaccinated at a pharmacy? Then clarify payment of costs with your health insurer beforehand.
Are you in areas with ticks for professional reasons? Then your employer will cover the costs.
Tick vaccinations: costs in Switzerland
Depending on where you get vaccinated, the TBE vaccine itself costs between approximately 44 and 48 francs per dose. In addition, there are the costs of vaccination. You should expect to pay over 150 francs for all three doses.
You’ll receive the first two doses of the TBE vaccine within one month. After the second dose, the patient is protected for a limited time.
The third dose of the vaccine is given five to twelve months after the second. It provides long-term protection against TBE.
TBE vaccination: when’s the best time to get vaccinated?
It’s best to get the first doses of the TBE vaccine in winter. This means you have sufficient protection from the beginning of the warm season.
Professionals recommend getting a booster every ten years.
Vaccination is recommended for all adults and children over the age of six who live in a TBE risk area. This is the whole of Switzerland with the exception of the cantons of Geneva and Ticino. Vaccination is also recommended for short-term stays in risk areas.
The TBE vaccine is produced using chicken cell cultures. Therefore, doctors should alert people with egg allergies to this. However, according to the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, the vaccination is safe even for those with this allergy.
In principle, vaccinations should be carried out in a medical environment under observation. This allows medical professionals to react quickly in the rare event of an emergency.
Most side effects are comparable to those of other vaccines. They usually disappear after a few days. Side affects may include:
Pain and redness at the point of injection
High temperature or fever
Headaches
Tiredness
Malaise
Gastrointestinal discomfort
Sensations such as numbness and tingling
In very rare cases, you may experience an allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock). In addition, there can be severe neurological side effects in very rare cases. The symptoms are
Severe headache
Visual disturbances
Transient emotional disturbances
Seizures
Paralysis
Inflammation of the nerves or brain
What does “very rare” mean when we talk about vaccine side effects?
Allergic reactions and neurological side effects occur very rarely due to TBE vaccination. In practice, this means:
Allergic reactions occur in one to two out of every million doses administered.
Neurological side effects occur in one in every 70,000 to one million doses.
5. Tick bites: what can I do to protect myself?
The best way to protect yourself from a tick bite is to wear long, closed clothing. It’s easier to spot ticks on light-coloured clothing. Remember, ticks usually don’t bite immediately. In some cases, they crawl over their victim for more than an hour before biting.
You can protect your skin with special sprays or creams. You can also use sprays on your clothes. Avoid the undergrowth, as ticks are found on bushes.
Generally speaking, after spending time in the forest, you should inspect your body for ticks the same day. Ticks prefer to bite places with thin, warm and moist skin. These include:
Back of the knee
The inner thighs
The groin
Neck and throat
Armpits
In the case of children: also the head
6. How to remove a tick
You should remove ticks as soon as possible. The reason: the longer the tick is attached, the higher the risk of infection. The following are the best methods for removal:
Thin, sharp tweezers
A special tick card
A tick hook
If you have nothing else to hand: your fingernails
Grab the tick as close to your skin as possible. Pull it out slowly and carefully. Do not squeeze, twist or tilt the tick. If part of the tick gets stuck, it will normally be rejected by your body after a while.
Don’t apply anything to the tick
Important: don’t treat the tick with substances such as oil, butter or glue. This causes ticks to slowly suffocate, which in turn causes them to release more viruses and bacteria.
After removing the tick, disinfect the site of the bite. Minor local skin reactions are normal. However, if other symptoms appear after a few days or weeks, seek medical advice.
Report the tick bite to your accident insurance
Officially, tick bites are considered an accident. Report them promptly to your accident insurance. They will cover all costs in the event of any infection. However, they must be able to identify the tick bite as the cause of the disease.
7. When is tick season?
As a rule, March to October is tick season. Ticks are most active during this period. However, ticks emerge from dormancy at temperatures of between seven and eight degrees Celsius. This means you can also be bitten by ticks in winter.
Ticks don’t jump onto people, nor do they drop from trees. They normally sit on bushes and grass. If a living thing passes by, they attach themselves. The bite is usually painless.
8. Where are the risk areas for tick-borne disease in Switzerland?
Ticks are found across the whole of Switzerland up to a height of around 2,000 metres above sea level. However, there are no known areas over 1,000 metres where ticks infected with the TBE can be found.
This interactive map of the Swiss Confederation shows the tick risk areas in Switzerland.
This article was first published on 10.12.2021
