Interactive map

Ticks already on the move: monitoring should help

You don't even have to go deep into the forest - ticks prefer to sit on grass and bushes, including in the garden.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The unusually warm weather in recent weeks means that the first ticks are already on the move. Exotic species are also spreading much more rapidly due to climate change. In order to improve monitoring, an interactive tick map is to be created for Austria and other EU countries.

The exotic giant tick that appeared in Austria a few years ago, for example, comes with migratory birds, said Georg Duscher from the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) on Thursday's Ö1 "Morgenjournal". Recently, the summers have been too short and too humid for them to develop. However, it has already been observed that the giant tick is also looking for a host in the fall.

In other words, there is a certain development that this climate change is bringing us new tick species.

Georg Duscher von der Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit

 "In other words, there is a certain development that this climate change is bringing us new tick species." The giant tick can transmit bacterial diseases or even the virus that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, he said. However, these pathogens have not yet been found in ticks in Austria, although they have been found in Italy and France.

Keeping an eye on the situation
In order to keep a better eye on the situation in future, Duscher is working on setting up a tick monitoring system. Up to now, the data has come from random reports from the population, TBE cases or selective research projects, and there has been no overall picture. In future, an interactive map should show: "Now the tick season is starting, for example, and which areas are now affected."

To this end, data is to be systematically collected as part of an EU research project, including with the help of a citizen science project in which citizens report and send in ticks so that they can be examined for diseases.

In addition to Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Greece are also involved, it was reported on Thursday. According to the expert, there are no longer really tick-free areas in this country, even in higher regions. So you should protect yourself everywhere.