**10. Treatment**

There is no specific antiviral treatment for TBE. Patients as a rule need hospitalization, supportive care, symptomatic treatment based on the presence and severity of signs/symptoms and therapy of neurologic and systemic complications. The symptomatic treatment usually includes antipyretics, analgesics, antiemetics, maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balance, and if necessary administration of anticonvulsive agents and treatment of cerebral edema [50, 123–125].

In some countries corticosteroids are often used in patients with TBE. However, until reliable studies prove the benefits of corticosteroids, their usage for the treatment of TBE is not recommended [47, 126].

Several patients need intensive care management; in those with neuromuscular paralysis leading to respiratory failure, intubation and ventilatory support are required. In a large prospective study, encompassing 635 patients diagnosed with TBE in the period from 1994 to 1998 in Germany, 12% of patients were treated in intensive care unit and 5% of patients required assisted ventilation [46]. Among patients with TBE, treated at a single medical center in Slovenia in the period from 2000 to 2004, 6.9% were hospitalized in the intensive care unit and 22.5% of them needed mechanical ventilation [33].
