Jul 25 (Japan Today) - A woman in western Japan died due to a tick-borne disease last year after being bitten by a stray cat, in the world's first case of the illness contracted from a mammal, the health ministry said Monday.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the woman in her 50s was bitten by the weakening stray cat when she was trying to carry it to a veterinary hospital, and she died some 10 days later. Examination of samples taken from her showed she was infected with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS.
Given that the woman had no traces of being bitten by a tick, the ministry concluded the cat was first infected with the disease by a tick bite and the virus was transmitted to the woman.
SFTS is a relatively new infectious disease confirmed in Japan, China and South Korea. In Japan, the first infection was confirmed in 2013 and there have been reports of 266 people being infected, of whom 57 died.
Source: ANNnewsCH
