Finnish pharmacies and surgeries have run out of vaccine against the tick-borne meningoencephalitis known as Kumlinge disease, medical reception centre Saaristolääkärit reports. The company has been forced to discontinue vaccinating people in the Helsinki region against the disease.
The remaining vaccine will be used as booster injections for those already vaccinated.
The public have been able to buy the vaccine from the company’s mobile “Tick Bus”.
More vaccine against Kumlinge disease will be available towards the end of summer, Saaristolääkärit promises.
In 2004,Helsingin Sanomat reported that a few dozen Finns catch Kumlinge disease each year.
Meningoencephalitis can cause paralysis, for instance, and weaken a person’s concentration and ability to reason. About one third of those infected suffer permanent after-effects.
Ticks that spread Kumlinge disease can be found in the Åland Islands and near the southwestern city of Uusikaupunki, as well as further up the west coast, and in the Lappeenranta-Parikkala region in the southeast. They have also been found in Isosaari, an island off Helsinki owned by the Defence Forces.
