TBE in Russia

TBE was first revealed in the Far-East Taiga Forest in the Soviet Union in springs and summers between 1933–1935 and it was further investigated as of 1937 at a large multidisciplinary expedition led by Professor Lev Zilber, the Head of the Moscow Medical Virology laboratory. The expedition demonstrated that the disease develops in humans after a tick bite, and the “Taiga Tick” Ixodes persulcatus was established as the virus carrier. The viral etiology of the disease was confirmed and the first strain of TBE virus (TBEV) was isolated. The clinical disease spectrum in humans and the respective pathology were described and the effectiveness of immunoglobulin-therapy was shown. Based on morphological studies since 1937 TBE was assigned to the group of neuro-infections as an independent nosological entity.