Every year about 1.5 million ticks bite someone in the Netherlands, especially between March and October. Most people will not get sick of that.

RIVM has investigated the so-called giant tick that was found in Odoorn in the province of Drenthe on 13 July. It is a Hyalomma marginatum female. 

According to a survey by RIVM , 27,000 people were infected with Lyme disease in 2017. In 2014, the last time RIVM reported on the incidence of tick-borne disease, this number was 25,000.

The societal costs of Lyme disease have been determined for the Netherlands for the first time. The disease appears to cost nearly EUR 20 million each year.

One in 5 tick bites occurs in an urban area. Although most tick bites occur in the countryside, many people are bitten in urban areas as well.

The salt content in bread was on average 19 percent lower compared to 2011. In addition, certain types of sauces, soups, canned vegetables and pulses, and crisps had a lower salt content.

For the first time, a person in the Netherlands has fallen ill after a bite from a tick carrying the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBE virus).

Lowering the amount of salt in processed foods or choosing low-salt alternatives can lead to substantial health benefits when it comes to cardiovascular disease.

At the start of the “Tick Awareness Week”, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Wageningen UR are commencing a large-scale study on the long-term effects of