Chapter 1: A short history of TBE

TBE virus is a flavivirus and a prominent tick-borne human pathogen occurring in parts of Asia and Europe. The virus was discovered by Lev A. Zilber and co-workers in the former USSR during an expedition in the Far Eastern taiga under the most difficult conditions in 1937. They and members of a second expedition under the leadership of the Academician Evgeny N. Pavlovsky 1938 elucidated the basic eco-epidemiology of the virus. In their natural foci, TBE virus circulates between vectors, certain ixodid ticks, and some of their hosts, so-called reservoir hosts, mostly small mammals. Five different subtypes of TBE virus have been described to date.