Investigation of tick-borne encephalitis virus in raw ruminant milk in Turkiye using real-time PCR

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes serious zoonotic diseases in humans in Europe and Asia, characterised by central nervous system infections. The risk of TBEV transmission to humans from the milk of infected ruminant animals is the primary source of foodborne TBE infection. Ixodid (Ixodes ricinus) ticks are present in Türkiye. This is the first study investigating foodborne TBEV in raw milk obtained from ruminant animals in Türkiye. Raw milk was collected from 900 ruminant animals in six provinces. It was analysed for viral nucleic acids using real-time reverse transcription PCR (rtRT-PCR). No TBEV RNA was detected.