"About a year or two": the appearance of viral encephalitis was predicted in Moscow
Ticks carrying viral encephalitis may appear in Moscow. So far, there have been none in the capital, but there are areas in the Moscow region bordering the endemic Tver region. Izvestia found out what ticks are currently carrying in Moscow and the Moscow region and how to protect themselves from infection.
New risks
Encephalitic ticks may appear in Moscow. This was announced by Mikhail Kostinov, head of the Laboratory of Vaccine Prevention and Immunotherapy of Allergic Diseases at the I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums.
He noted that so far no bites of such insects have been registered in the capital and the region. But Dmitrovsky and Taldomsky districts border the Tver region, which is considered an endemic region. And there are already cases of encephalitis.
"There are animals that move from one forest to another, birds fly, which can be carriers of this tick. Tick-borne encephalitis is transmitted even through milk. About a year or two, and maybe even this year, tick-borne encephalitis will occur in Moscow," Kostinov predicted on the air of the Moscow Says radio station.
To protect against a dangerous disease, he recommended getting vaccinated. Otherwise, infection can have serious consequences, such as paralysis, and then a person may remain disabled for life.
According to Rospotrebnadzor, almost 64.5 thousand people were vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis in Moscow last year. This is 14 thousand more than a year earlier.
Tick-borne infections
According to Rospotrebnadzor, the territory of Moscow is not endemic for tick-borne viral encephalitis, but imported cases are registered annually in people who have traveled to endemic territories without vaccinations. In Central Russia, in addition to the Tver Region, these include Ivanovo, Yaroslavl and Kostroma. In general, the disease is most common in the Urals, the Far East, and the territories of Eastern and Western Siberia.
According to the Hemotest laboratory provided to Izvestia, last year, employees identified the tick-borne encephalitis virus in one tick brought for testing in Moscow. Three more such cases were recorded by specialists of laboratory departments located in the Moscow region. This season, none of the ticks delivered to the laboratory departments of Hemotest were found to have tick-borne encephalitis.
In total, Rospotrebnadzor noted that last year more than 429,000 people applied to medical organizations due to tick bites, 16,611 of them in Moscow and 11,417 in the Moscow region. The department did not provide data on those infected with encephalitis throughout Russia, but it was reported that 1,600 patients were diagnosed with encephalitis in 2022 and 1,200 in 2023.
Meanwhile, Vera Serezhina, an expert doctor at the LabQuest medical company, tells Izvestia that ticks can carry not only encephalitis, but also other dangerous infections, such as borreliosis and spotted fever. All of them can cause serious complications, including damage to the nervous system and joints, up to disability.
According to laboratory statistics, in 2025, of the 100% of infected ticks studied, 20.4% were carriers of rickettsia (causative agents of tick—borne spotted fever), 14.8% - borreliosis (Lyme disease), and 2.1% — granulocytic anaplasmosis. The causative agents of encephalitis and monocytic ehrlichiosis were not detected in any of the samples. Last year, 34.9% of ticks suffered from borreliosis, 19.64% from rickettsia, and 2.93% from granulocytic anaplasmosis. In 2023, ticks also mainly carried borreliosis (24.77%), but ticks infected with encephalitis were also found, the figure was 0.02% of the total.
What ticks suffer in Moscow
According to Ekaterina Demyanovskaya, an expert at the Hemotest laboratory and a neurologist, ticks are most likely to cause borreliosis (Lyme disease) in Moscow and the Moscow Region. It is a bacterial infection characterized by fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness in the extremities, skin rash, heart and joint problems, and disorders of the nervous system. Without treatment, the disease sometimes becomes chronic.
In more rare cases, ticks carry ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, tick-borne recurrent typhus, tularemia, spotted fever. Almost all of these diseases are severe and can lead to serious irreversible health consequences and even death. At the same time, they can have a rather long incubation period, from 14 to 28 days, which makes it difficult to diagnose: the patient does not always associate fever with a tick that bit him a month ago.
Tick-borne encephalitis, which is more often brought to Moscow from other regions, is considered the most dangerous infection carried by these arachnids. This is a viral infection of the central nervous system, for which there is no etiotropic (that is, affecting the cause of the disease) treatment. It affects the human brain and spinal cord.
— The disease is transmitted immediately when a tick is sucked in and its salivary fluid enters a person. It is accompanied by chills, fever, nausea, vomiting, headache in the eyes and forehead, photophobia, epileptic seizures, impaired consciousness and sometimes coma. Due to persistent disorders in the nervous system, the disease can lead to disability and even death of the patient," says Vera Serezhina, an expert doctor at LabQuest.
With a severe course of the disease, a person may have irreversible neurological disorders for life — muscle weakness (paresis) up to paralysis, epileptic disorders, impaired speech, hearing, vision, and coordination of movements. But even with a relatively favorable outcome of the disease, recovery can take months or even years. The severity of the disease depends on many factors, including age, general health, and characteristics of the virus, concludes neurologist Ekaterina Demyanovskaya.
Protection from ticks
As Vera Serezhina explains, there are two types of prevention of tick—borne diseases - specific and non-specific. The specific one concerns only tick-borne encephalitis and includes vaccination. It is free of charge, and in regions where tick—borne encephalitis is common, it is included in the national vaccination calendar for both adults and children.
— Residents of such regions are also recommended to be tested for IgG antibodies to the tick-borne encephalitis virus. This will help to understand whether a person has immunity. In some cases, it forms naturally, especially in people who were born and raised in endemic areas, such as the Far East or Siberia. They may retain their natural defenses, which are transmitted from the mother to the child through the placenta," explains Izvestia's interlocutor.
As for borreliosis, or Lyme disease, no vaccines have been developed for it yet. This is a large bacterium, and protection against it is possible only through non-specific measures — that is, actions aimed at preventing contact with the tick itself. First of all, these are well-chosen clothes: long sleeves and trousers tucked into socks, tight-fitting clothes without loose-hanging elements, a hood or a scarf covering the hair. Clothes should be light—colored - it's easier to spot a tick on them.
— Special care should be taken in areas with tall grass or bushes — ticks usually wait for victims at a height of 1-1.2 m. They most often get to humans from plants, not from trees," says Vera Serezhina. — It is also worth avoiding places with overgrown paths. Picnics on the grass or relaxing on benches in parks can also be risky even in Moscow, because ticks are fixed in urban areas due to migration with migratory birds.
Therefore, the expert concludes, it is better to choose equipped playgrounds for recreation. Their territory is usually treated with anti-mite agents. In other places, it is better to use repellents, and not universal ones against mosquitoes and midges, but special ones against ticks, applying them to clothes.
— It is worth noting that the risk of contracting tick—borne infections is possible even if the tick did not bite, but simply appeared on the body - first on clothes, and then on the skin. If it contains an infection, it can enter the body even through the skin when combing or crushing a tick, Vera Serezhina emphasizes.
What to do with a tick bite
After walking in nature, doctors recommend examining yourself in order to be able to remove the tick from your body or clothing before being bitten. Usually arthropods choose the areas between the fingers, buttocks, groin, places under the knees, at the waist, in the armpits, on the neck and behind the ears. A small red spot with a diameter of 2-3 mm may remain at the bite site, similar to a mosquito bite, says Maria Menshikova, a therapist at Teledoktor24.:
In case of a bite, you should immediately contact the nearest emergency room or hospital. But when this is not possible, the insect is removed independently using tweezers or a "pincer" device. The tick should not be squeezed, cauterized or oiled: in doing so, it will release a large amount of infected saliva into the wound. If the head of the tick remains in the wound, it is removed with disinfected tweezers or a needle, and after that the wound is treated with an antiseptic.
Next, says Ekaterina Demyanovskaya, the tick is placed in a jar or container, which is then covered with a cloth and fixed with an elastic band. In this form, it must be taken to a laboratory, where specialists will check whether it could be a carrier of infections.
— The sooner it is possible to detect the infection and start treatment or prevention, the more successful they will be. For example, if a patient is infected with tick—borne encephalitis, an immunoglobulin should be administered to the patient in the first 72 hours after sucking the tick," the neurologist notes.
In any case, the doctor Vera Seryozhina adds, it is important for the patient to monitor his well-being after the bite. And even if there are no symptoms, it is better to take an antibody test — this is especially important for residents of endemic regions.
"If symptoms such as fever, headache, or muscle pain appear after a tick bite, it is important to consult a doctor immediately," concludes Maria Menshikova.
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