Epidemiological Analysis of the Occurrence of Tick-borne Diseases at the Independent Public Health Care Facility in Bielsk Podlaski

. Ticks can infect people with numerous pathogens causing various infectious (viral, bacterial) or invasive (parasitic, fungal) diseases. Aim . The main objective of the present work included the epidemiologic analysis of the occurrence of tick-borne diseases at the Independent Public Health Care Facility in Bielsk Podlaski. Material and Methods . An analysis of medical documentation stored in the hospital’s IT database of patients hospitalized in 2016, 2017 and 2018 was performed. Sixty-six patients admitted to the Observation and Infectious Disease Ward diagnosed with tick-borne diseases, were qualified for the study. Results . Analysis of the data showed that Lyme disease was diagnosed most often. It affected mainly middle-aged and elderly men. The second most-often diagnosed illness was TBM characterized by its seasonality. No other tick-transmitted diseases were recorded. Although not all patients were aware of having been bitten by a tick, their symptoms allowed the diagnosis of tick-related illnesses. After treatment relevant to each ailment all patients were discharged in a good state of health. Conclusions . The completed retrospective analysis of the documentation of hospitalized patients shows consistency with the work of other authors both with respect to the frequency of tick-borne disease diagnoses and the most often reported symptoms. It also confirms an upward trend with respect to tick-borne disease hospitalizations. (JNNN 2020;9(2):51–58)