Comparison of the two groups revealed that patients with monophasic course were statistically significantly older (57 vs. 50 years), more often had underlying diseases (52% vs. 37%), were more often vaccinated against TBE (7.4% vs. 0.9%), had longer duration of illness (neurologic involvement) prior to admission to hospital and CSF examination (5 vs. 4 days), and had more pronounced disruption of blood brain barrier as indicated by higher albumin as well as IgG quotient. The gene discussed is ALB; the disease is tick-borne encephalitis.