With effect from 1 March, doctors must report every patient with tick-borne encephalitis with neurological symptoms to the Municipal Public Health Service (GGD). Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is transmitted by ticks and can cause meningitis.

After recording 80,000 tick bites in 10 years via Tekenradar.nl, we now know that you are most likely to be bitten by a tick in Drenthe. Quickly removing the tick halves the chance of contracting Lyme disease.

More than a quarter of people with Lyme disease continue to have long-term symptoms that lead to limitations in daily life even after treatment.

Every year about 1.5 million ticks bite someone in the Netherlands, especially between March and October. Most people will not get sick of that.

RIVM has investigated the so-called giant tick that was found in Odoorn in the province of Drenthe on 13 July. It is a Hyalomma marginatum female.