There is a tick plague, with a significant increase in Swedes infected with TBE. The number of cases this year up to and including July 20 amounts to 213, which can be compared with 111 and 138 cases for the same period in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
The reason for the increase, according to the Public Health Agency, is climate change, with the warmer climate and earlier springs benefiting ticks. The weather also means that people are outside and moving around more - and getting more tick bites.
The climate has been favorable for ticks and the rodent population that carries the virus, says Ulrika Marking, infectious disease physician at the Swedish Public Health Agency.
Six percent increase
Marking further says that the total number of TBE cases per year is definitely increasing. She explains that it is not rising gradually exactly every year, but that the increase becomes particularly noticeable if you look at a longer period of time.
Looking at the last ten-year period, we are talking about an increase of six percent annually on average.
In 2025, the total number was 503 TBE cases. In 2024, the number was 384 infections.
National statistics are missing.
Despite the increase in TBE, there are no national statistics on the protection Swedes have. The Public Health Agency does not keep statistics on vaccinations but says that it is something they advocate.
It is definitely a project that we are working to make a reality.
A complete register makes it easier to monitor the follow-up of recommendations and vaccine effects.
Statistics are kept for the general vaccination programs for children, which include tetanus, measles and mumps. Vaccinations for adults, on the other hand, are seen as recommendations based on factors such as age and health status, and it is the regions themselves that decide how these are offered.
One region that is consistently among the most vulnerable in the country is Sörmland. For several years, the region has therefore had vaccine subsidies that mean that TBE vaccination is free for children 3–18. Regions such as Uppsala, Västmanland and Östergötland have also introduced the same subsidy.
Serious consequences
TBE is considered a serious disease that can have extremely severe consequences. Many people experience no or only mild symptoms, but there is also a high risk of developing neurological symptoms, which sometimes include encephalitis, says Marking.
Then your personality changes, you can have motor impairments so that you can't walk, or you can't use part of your body. You can even become unconscious and, in the worst case, die.
The number of cases of Swedes infected with TBE is increasing on average by six percent per year, over the last ten-year period, according to the Swedish Public Health Agency.
The number of people infected per year has been as follows:
2025: 503 cases of TBE infection.
2024: 384
2023: 595
2022: 465
2021: 534
2020: 274
2019: 358
2018: 385
2017: 391
2016: 238
Source: Public Health Agency of Sweden
