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Vector Bourne Diseases

Checked: 23-05-2025 by Rob Adams Next Review: 23-05-2027

Overview

The epidemiology of VBDs is evolving worldwide. Some popular European travel destinations now pose a risk of infections including the following:

Dengue fever
West Nile virus (WNV)
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever (CCHF)
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE)
Usutu

There is a risk that patients and clinicians may be unaware of recent changes in epidemiology and therefore not consider these diseases in the differential diagnosis of illnesses, particularly of neurological syndromes.

More detailed information can be found in the briefing paper below:

UKHSA Briefing Note Re Vector Borne Disease In The UK And Europe

Who to Refer

All clinicians are reminded:

To consider VBDs in the differential diagnosis of patients with relevant clinical syndromes, even where there has been no history of travel abroad.
To ensure that a travel history and outdoor exposure history is taken from patients with relevant clinical syndromes – particularly fever and rash or symptoms of central nervous system infection.
That a ‘significant’ travel history for VBDs should now include countries in Europe. Patients may not mention travel to European destinations unprompted as there may not be a perception of risk.
Of the requirement to notify certain infectious disease syndromes on clinical suspicion to UKHSA (e.g. meningitis / encephalitis / acute flaccid paralysis).
That input from infection services should be sought for illnesses that are clinically compatible with infection syndromes in returning travellers.

Referral

Clinicians should contact their local infectious diseases service (See Advice & Referrals - Infectious Diseases and Microbiology) to discuss possible vector-borne disease cases.

Resources

How we protect the UK from vector-borne diseases like dengue and West Nile virus – UK Health Security Agency

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

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