Tick-borne encephalitis in Germany, and where the risk is

Unlike Austria, Germany's TBE risk is regional, and the RKI publishes the official map each year. Its 2026 bulletin states the risk is “primarily in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, in southern Hesse, in southeastern Thuringia, in Saxony and in southeastern Brandenburg”, with eastern Saxony-Anhalt also named. Isolated risk areas exist in central Hesse, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Two districts were added for 2026 — Landkreis Nordsachsen in Saxony and the city of Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt — bringing the total to 185 districts.

The practical reading for a mover: much of the south sits inside the risk area and much of the north does not, but the list works district by district, and a city can differ from the countryside around it. Check your own district on the RKI map rather than assuming either way. Ticks are most active from early spring to late autumn, according to NaTHNaC.

Sources: Robert Koch Institute — FSME, including Epidemiologisches Bulletin 9/2026 (26 February 2026), FSME-Risikogebiete in Deutschland; NaTHNaC — Germany country information; all read 7 October 2026.

The RKI is careful here, and its answer is more useful than a scary headline. Even in risk areas, the RKI says, only a few ticks are infected with the TBE virus — on average between 0.1% and 5% of ticks in risk areas carry it, and the figure varies sharply over short distances. The RKI says it is not possible to derive a disease risk from a single bite, and that many infections are mild or cause no symptoms.

Against that, 2025's 693 reported cases were the third-highest annual total since data collection began in 2001, so this is not a fading risk.

The combination is the honest picture: any one bite is unlikely to infect you, but a resident of the south collects bites over years — gardens, parks, woodland walks — and the vaccine is how that adds up to nothing.

NaTHNaC recommends TBE vaccination for people visiting affected areas whose activities raise their risk, beginning with people living in TBE risk areas. Its list continues with:

• people working in forestry, woodcutting, farming and the military
• people visiting forested areas and urban parks — camping, fieldwork, hiking and hunting
• laboratory workers who may be exposed

For a move to Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, the first line covers you. For a move to Hamburg or Berlin, it depends on how often you will be in the south — or in the other risk districts — outdoors.

Tick-bite avoidance applies everywhere, risk area or not, because Lyme disease is found throughout Germany: repellent, closed clothing, checking skin after time outdoors. And NaTHNaC's advice to avoid unpasteurised milk products applies too.

On the plans we arrange, vaccinations are not covered on Major Medical or Standard; Comprehensive includes US$250 with 25% co-insurance and Fully Comprehensive US$500, limited to vaccinations directly related to overseas travel requirements. Plan on paying for the TBE vaccine yourself.

An infection caught after you arrive is acute, and treatment of the illness is what a plan is for. Where TBE leaves lasting neurological effects, the chronic conditions exclusion applies unless the plan includes a Chronic Conditions benefit.

If your work is forestry, woodcutting or farming — groups NaTHNaC names directly — the policy wording excludes manual labour and hazardous working environments. Check before you buy. The cover we arrange is worldwide — the United States is the one exception — and pre-existing conditions are excluded.