Small but dangerous, they lurk in tall grass and only want one thing: to suck their blood. We will tell you here when the tick season begins and ends in Germany in 2022 and which areas are risk areas.
The tick itself is not actually dangerous for humans. It sucks a fair amount of blood and hangs on to its human host for up to several weeks, but we don’t suffer any significant loss of blood. However, the greatest danger lies in their function as disease vectors. When they suck blood, they can give us diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) or Lyme disease. Therefore, when hiking or walking, you should pay attention to when and where you hang out.
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When does tick season begin and end?
After 2020 was already a record year for ticks, 2022 could actually get even worse. This is because the small bloodsuckers, which with their eight legs belong to the spiders – more precisely to the mites – become active earlier from year to year. Since ticks hibernate at temperatures below 7 °C, their hibernation usually lasts from around the end of November to the end of February. Since the winters in recent years have been warmer than average, the ticks have also become active earlier.
Due to these temperature changes, ticks are now active almost all year round. However , most activity occurs in spring and autumn . The first ticks were already classified as active in February this year . Depending on the temperatures, they can occur up to and including October or even November 2022. The following risk areas are particularly affected in Germany.
Tick season 2022: These are the risk areas
Every year, the Robert Koch Institute publishes the existing and newly added risk areas for ticks and potential infection with TBE. In 2020 there were 704 cases of TBE, the highest number since data collection began in 2001. This is roughly twice the annual average.
In Germany, the following areas are considered TBE risk areas: Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, southern Hesse and the south-eastern part of Thuringia . There are also isolated risk areas in central Hesse, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Lower Saxony. In 2022, the urban district of Dessau-Roßlau was the first district in Saxony-Anhalt to be declared a risk area. A total of 169 districts are currently defined as TBE risk areas in Germany. You can use this RKI map to check whether your district or one of your holiday destinations is one of the risk areas .
Avoid tick bite: How to behave correctly
So that you don’t get into the situation where you have to use a tick card to carefully remove one or more of the bloodsuckers from your body , here are the most effective tips for you to avoid tick bites and the associated diseases TBE and Lyme disease :
- Wear long, tight-fitting clothing
- Wear sturdy, closed shoes
- Use an anti-tick spray
- Avoid tall grass
- Avoid risk areas in spring and autumn
- You or a partner search your entire body for ticks immediately after spending time in nature
- Get vaccinated against TBE
