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Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...eased-risk-deadly-tick-borne-disease-spreads/
Pet owners at increased risk as deadly tick-borne disease spreads throughout Asia
Julian Ryall, Tokyo
10 December 2019 • 12:31pm
A tick-borne virus that is rapidly spreading throughout Asia has such a high death rate it should be treated on a par with diseases such as Ebola, a Japanese virologist has warned.
The new virus – severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) – is spread by tick bites and was first identified by Chinese researchers eight years ago.
It has a death rate of 30 per cent, similar to diseases such as Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, classified by the World Health Organization as having "epidemic potential".
Owners of pet cats and dogs have been warned to be especially vigilant as they carry ticks.
SFTS was first identified in Japan in 2013, when 40 patients were identified. The number of cases has risen sharply since then, with 96 in the first 11 months of this year and experts anticipating that the total will surpass 100 for the whole of 2019.
“SFTS is a tick-borne infection with a fatality rate around 30 per cent and it should be classified as a viral haemorraghic fever,” said Dr Masayuki Saijo, director of Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
“The route of the virus infection is very similar to Ebola and the fact that the fatality rate is so high means that SFTS should be treated as a biosafety level three pathogen,” he added...
...As well as being found in China and Japan, SFTS has now been confirmed on the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and, last year, in Vietnam. The disease is believed to have evolved between 50 and 150 years ago and previous deaths, particularly in developing parts of east Asia, were blamed on other illnesses or were simply recorded as being from unknown causes...
Pet owners at increased risk as deadly tick-borne disease spreads throughout Asia
Julian Ryall, Tokyo
10 December 2019 • 12:31pm
A tick-borne virus that is rapidly spreading throughout Asia has such a high death rate it should be treated on a par with diseases such as Ebola, a Japanese virologist has warned.
The new virus – severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) – is spread by tick bites and was first identified by Chinese researchers eight years ago.
It has a death rate of 30 per cent, similar to diseases such as Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, classified by the World Health Organization as having "epidemic potential".
Owners of pet cats and dogs have been warned to be especially vigilant as they carry ticks.
SFTS was first identified in Japan in 2013, when 40 patients were identified. The number of cases has risen sharply since then, with 96 in the first 11 months of this year and experts anticipating that the total will surpass 100 for the whole of 2019.
“SFTS is a tick-borne infection with a fatality rate around 30 per cent and it should be classified as a viral haemorraghic fever,” said Dr Masayuki Saijo, director of Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
“The route of the virus infection is very similar to Ebola and the fact that the fatality rate is so high means that SFTS should be treated as a biosafety level three pathogen,” he added...
...As well as being found in China and Japan, SFTS has now been confirmed on the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and, last year, in Vietnam. The disease is believed to have evolved between 50 and 150 years ago and previous deaths, particularly in developing parts of east Asia, were blamed on other illnesses or were simply recorded as being from unknown causes...