{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]],"date-time":"2026-06-20T01:56:06Z","timestamp":1781920566483,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,8]],"date-time":"2026-01-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767830400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"TBEV risk assessment of a working group established by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus is transmitted to humans via tick bites and occasionally via the consumption of unpasteurized milk products. According to the literature, the most important driver of TBE emergence and increase in incidence in humans is changes in human behaviour\/activities. Method and principal findings: To compensate for the lack of data, expert opinions were gathered to identify the risk factors for exposure to tick bites linked to twenty-eight human activities (professional or recreational) in forests and to target prevention messages at the populations most at risk. Opinions were elicited from a total of twenty-five European experts. Seven criteria were included in the analysis for each activity: frequency, seasonality, duration of exposure, distance covered, degree of contact with vegetation, speed and average level of protection against tick bites. The activities considered to be the most at risk of exposure to tick bites are, in descending order: three occupational activities (forest monitoring activities, forestry and wood industry activities and scientific and\/or analytical activities), five recreational activities and one hunting activity (mushroom picking, spending the night in the forest, hunting, naturalist activities, orienteering, and berry or fruit picking). Conclusions and significance: Prevention messages regarding tick bites could be targeted at people who engage in activities considered in this analysis to be at highest risk of exposure to tick bites.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v18010082","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,8]],"date-time":"2026-01-08T09:01:29Z","timestamp":1767862889000},"page":"82","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Expert Elicitation on Exposure to Tick Bites and Tick-Borne Encephalitis Risk in Occupational and Recreational Forest Activities"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9087-7436","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claude","family":"Saegerman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Fundamental and Applied Research for Animal and Health (FARAH) Center, University of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elsa","family":"Quillery","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5939-2403","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marc","family":"Leandri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UMI SOURCE, UVSQ-Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay, IRD, 78286 Guyancourt, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0331-4991","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"V\u00e9ronique","family":"Raimond","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Social Science, Economy and Society Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pauline","family":"Kooh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Philippe","family":"Fravalo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"USC Metabiot, Le Cnam, 22440 Ploufragan, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7916-1936","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thierry","family":"Hoch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Oniris, INRAE, BIOEPAR, 44300 Nantes, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yves","family":"Hansman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Service de Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, CHU de Strasbourg, 1 Place de L\u2019h\u00f4pital, UR3073\u2014PHAVI\u2014Pathogen-Host-Arthropod Vector Interactions University of Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nathalie","family":"Boulanger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UR3073\u2014PHAVI\u2014Pathogen-Host-Arthropod Vector Interactions\u2014Ticks and Tick-Borne Disease Group, France and French Reference Centre on Lyme Borreliosis, CHRU, University of Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ttbdis.2010.10.007","article-title":"Tick-borne encephalitis 2010: Epidemiology, risk areas, and virus strains in Europe and Asia-an overview","volume":"2","year":"2011","journal-title":"Ticks Tick Borne Dis."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.16.17-00454","article-title":"Impact of infectious diseases on population health using incidence-based disability-adjusted life years (DALYs): Results from the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe study, European Union and European Economic Area countries, 2009 to 2013","volume":"23","author":"Cassini","year":"2018","journal-title":"Eurosurveillance"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"\u0160mit, R., and Postma, M.J. 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