France travel warning as holidaymakers urged 'take action' as serious illness detected

Holidaymakers heading to France have been told to be wary of a potentially deathly disease.

Summer is upon us and people will be jetting off on their holidays in search of some sunshine. However, people travelling to France have been told to watch out for tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) after 61 cases of the condition have been detected in the country.

The disease has been detected in the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes with cases now being reported in the Haute-Savoie department and Ardèche department of this area. Public Health France warned people to take action as the disease has had a 94 per cent hospitalisation rate, Wales Online reports.

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Tick-borne encephalitis is transmitted to humans by bites often during leisure activities, in humid wooded areas such as camping, hiking, and mushroom picking. Tick-borne encephalitis is an infection that affects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) in a significant proportion of cases, and 40 per cent of these cases may present neurological problems for several years.

After a one- to two-week incubation period, tick-borne encephalitis begins suddenly, like influenza, with fever, headache, and chills. Forty percent of people infected may experience long-term neurological effects lasting several years. Thirty-seven per cent of cases declared between May 2021 and May 2023 contracted meningitis, 38 per cent encephalitis, 13 per cent meningoencephalitis, and three per cent encephalomyelitis.

Ten per cent had no neurological signs. Ninety-four percent of cases required admission to hospital. There were no deaths. Although vaccination is not yet recommended in France, Public Health France