Risk assessment of the alimentary transmission of tick-borne encephalitis viruses from goats to humans by milk and milk products in Swiss alpine regions
Risikobewertung der alimentären Übertragung von Frühsommer-Meningoenzephalitis-Viren von der Ziege auf den Menschen durch Milch und Milchprodukte in den Schweizer Alpenregionen
Jan-Erik Ingenhoff
Swiss Reference Laboratory for Milk
and Milk Products
Agroscope
Schwarzenburgstrasse 161
3003 Berne
Switzerland
jan-erik.ingenhoff@agroscope.admin.ch
Viral zoonosis tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is usually transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected tick. Another possible way to become infected with the viral pathogen is through the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products. Based on the seroprevalence of antibodies against TBE viruses in goats in the Valais canton in a recently published study, a risk assessment for the viral contamination of goat milk was performed for this area. The probability of virus-contaminated milk was calculated to range between 0.0012% and 0.024% of household milk.