THL has published a questionnaire for interviewing patients with tick-borne encephalitis
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) monitors the number of people with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and the incidence figures with the help of laboratory reports from the National Infectious Diseases Register. In addition, all patients are interviewed to find out the municipality in which they were infected. In addition to THL, some municipalities also conduct interviews with patients.
THL has published a new questionnaire, intended for use by healthcare professionals, for interviewing TBE patients. It is available on the THL website as a printable version and as a Webropol online form. The information is transferred from the online form to THL, and the users can save the information for themselves.
The aim is to ensure that the information obtained from the patient interviews is nationally uniform and that all patient interview information is received by the National Institute for Health and Welfare. This ensures that the TBE monitoring data is comprehensive. Thus, the new interview form should replace the other forms used for interviewing TBE patients.
Based on the information collected in the patient interviews, incidence figures for TBE are calculated both by municipality and often also for smaller geographical areas. Based on the collected data, the national vaccination programme and regional vaccination recommendations will be updated.
Municipalities or hospital districts that wish to conduct interviews with TBE patients independently in the future are requested to contact THL. This ensures that the same patient is not interviewed more than once.
In the future, the aim is also to develop other cooperation related to patient interviews with hospital districts and municipalities.
Additional information
Prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis in Finland (THL)
Tick-borne encephalitis (THL)
Tarja Kuutamo
Specialist
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
tel. +358 29 524 8384
[email protected]
Henna Mäkelä
Researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
tel. +358 29 524 7488
[email protected]
