An increasing number of people are falling ill with TBE – “Much more research is needed”
In recent years, more and more people have been affected by TBE in Sweden, and last year, a record number of people fell ill.
“We have seen a huge increase in cases over the last 20 years. In the 80s and 90s, there were perhaps 50 cases per year, but by 2023, there were almost 600 cases,” says Anna Överby Wernstedt, professor at the Department of Clinical Microbiology at Umeå University.
She is researching the tick-borne TBE virus and trying to understand how the brain defends itself against the virus. In collaboration with her research colleagues, she has developed a method for visualising the location of the virus in the brain using mouse models.
“We have also developed methods to localise and anatomically determine where the viral infection goes, and based on this we aim to better understand the course of the disease.”
Today, we have a vaccine against the virus infection, but there is no treatment for the disease.
“Therefore, the immune response plays a crucial role in defending us against the infection. However, the inflammatory response can also cause damage if the virus triggers too strong a response. So, we are also studying the long-term consequences of the infection in the brain.”
About 50% of those who contract TBE and become ill do not recover completely, says Anna Överby Wernstedt, and today we know very little about the disease.
“We know that TBE mostly infects nerve cells in the brain, and when they are infected and damaged, there is brain damage. You get different symptoms depending on which part of the brain the virus settles in.”
She explains that several different factors can contribute to people reacting differently to the virus infection, including age, immune system and the type of virus strain that causes the infection.
“A lot more research is needed to understand this disease.”
Anna Överby Wernstedt and her research team aim to contribute research to developing a drug.
“To put it bluntly, we need funding both to research and develop it. It’s difficult at the moment.”
Anna Överby Wernstedt is one of the speakers at the Bioscience – Groundbreaking Research & Diagnostics event taking place on 7 November at Life City in Stockholm. She will talk about her research on TBE and how the brain defends itself against the infection. Read more at bioscienceevent.com.
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