Tick-borne encephalitis in pregnant women: A mini narrative review

Abstract

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) incidence has been increasing in Europe the last decades, but very few cases in pregnant women have been described. We present two cases and describe the serology of both mother and infant at the time of diagnosis and delivery, as well as at months 3, 6, 9, and 12 of follow-up. In both cases, pregnancies and infants developed normally. The mothers had moderate-to severe symptoms of TBE and were positive for IgM and IgG at the time of diagnosis, and throughout the follow up period whilst both infants were PCR- and IgM-negative and positive for IgG during their first months in life. Declining IgG titres were seen in the infants during follow-up until they became negative at the age of nine months. TBE IgG was vertically transmitted in these two cases of infants born to TBE-infected mothers.

Keywords

• Case report
• infant
• neutralising antibodies
• pregnancy
• serology
• tick-borne encephalitis