TOKYO – A record 135 people in Japan have so far been diagnosed with a potentially fatal tick-borne disease in 2025, figures from a national health research body showed Tuesday.
Preliminary data from the Japan Institute for Health Security showed cases of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS, topped the previous record of 134 people in 2023. More than 10 people have been confirmed to have died of the viral infectious disease this year.
The disease is passed to humans via tick bites or the blood of an infected person or animal. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is urging people working outdoors to cover their skin to protect themselves from being infected.
Following an incubation period of around six days to two weeks, patients often develop symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea and loss of consciousness.
Older people are more likely to develop serious symptoms, with more than 90 percent of patients in their 60s and over. SFTS is estimated to have a fatality rate of 10 to 30 percent, and many who die are in their 50s and above.
The recorded SFTS cases have generally been concentrated in western Japan areas, with Kochi Prefecture seeing the highest number of patients this year at 14 people. The data also showed instances in central and eastern Japan and as far as the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.
Reporting tends to increase in the spring to autumn period when ticks are most active. In the week ended Aug. 10, eight cases were reported in the country, preliminary figures showed.
SFTS was first reported in China in 2011 and in Japan in 2013. There is no vaccine for SFTS, although antivirals are available.
AloJapan.com