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Tick-borne encephalitis - life with the consequences
ŠTIBINGEROVÁ, Jana
This thesis charts the course of the tick-borne encephalitis since the beginning to the eventual consequences that the illness had left and that the patient must live with. Ixodes ricinus, tiny parasites carrying the disease called encephalitis, is no longer present only in the wild, but also in city parks or in our gardens. Every year, many cases of this disease occur across groups of all ages. It is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system caused by viruses. Disease is usually divided into two phases, where the first stage is similar to spring-summer influenza with different length of quiescent phase, in the second stage exacerbation occurs. At this stage, the patient is struggling with high temperatures, headaches, severe pain in muscles and joints, vomiting and disorders of consciousness. Correct diagnosis is specified after sampling of cerebrospinal fluid through a lumbar puncture. Patients with confirmed tick-borne encephalitis are hospitalized in isolation wards, not because of the spread of the disease, but for the experience of doctors. Here they are isolated in the rooms, which can have a detrimental effect on their psyche. Treatment follows after discharge from the hospital, and often takes several months. The aim of this study was to map the progression of the disease from its beginning, through time spent in a hospital bed, followed by home recovery up to the present. A very important part in the return-to-health process has the nurse, and therefore this paper tries to describe her role in treatment of patients with tick-borne encephalitis. Given that there exists a specific prevention in form of vaccination, the next objective was to verify the vaccination on samples of the population in the Česke Budějovice and Gmünd, Austria, and to compare these two groups of respondents. The survey of the thesis was carried out from August 2015 to April 2016 using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data were collected through semi-standardized interviews with nine respondents, who were recruited through social networks with the help of gatekeepers. Quantitative data was collected via short survey distributed in Česke Budějovice and Gmünd, Austria. The results of the qualitative part were processed through coding and compiling of diagrams, from which the answers of individual respondents can be deducted. Evident is the whole course of the disease from the beginning up to the present. Data from the quantitative section were arranged into tables and then statistically evaluated. Based on the results, the frequency of vaccination of specific groups can be compared and therefore campaigns on health protection against tick-borne encephalitis can be targeted effectively.
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