TBE in the Czech Republic

The TBE virus (TBEV) was first isolated in the Czech Republic by Czech scientists in 1948-1949 from both a patient and also from Ixodes ricinus ticks.1 However, even before 1948, etiologically unclear summer cases of viral meningoencephalitis had been reported, and likely, at least in part, they are attributable to the TBE virus. These cases were reported mostly from patients in the districts of Beroun (Central Bohemia), Hradec Králové (East Bohemia), Vyškov (South Moravia), and occasionally from the neighborhood of Prague. The official reports of these probable cases of ”tick-borne encephalitis” were registered in the database of the National Institute of Public Health in Prague since 1945.