[The course of the tick-born encephalitis (TBE) in patients hospitalized at the Department of Infectious Diseases in Bialystok in the year 2001].

AIM: To characterize epidemiological and clinical features of TBE in the Northeastern Poland.

METHODS

Analysis of clinical and epidemiological data of patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of TBE in the Department of the Infectious Diseases and Neuroinfections of the Medical University in Białystok in 2001.

MAIN OBSERVATIONS: TBE was diagnosed in 48 patients. From that number 18 (37.5%) presented symptoms of meningitis, 24 (50.0%) meningoencephalitis, 5 (10.4%) meningoencephalomyelitis and 1 (2.1%) meningoencephaloradiculitis.

RESULTS

Headache (100%) and fever (87.5%) were the most common complaints. Signs of meningitis were observed in 35 patients (72.9%). Common neurological abnormalities were Oppenheim and Babinski signs (18 patients, 37.5%), pareses (8; 16.7%), ataxia (7; 14.58%) and impaired consciousness (6; 12.5%). Cytosis in cerebrospinal fluid (csf) was observed in all patients, frequently accompanied by high csf protein concentration, raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (61.5%), leucocytosis (31.25%) and aminotrasferase activity (12.5%). There were no professional forest workers among the patients.