The Japanese health ministrysaysa charwoman that died last year may be the first person to contract a pernicious tick - borne disease from another mammalian .
The charwoman , who was in her 50s , was bitten by a isolated cat . She was make to a veterinary hospital , but die 10 sidereal day after , showing signs of a austere fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome ( SFTS ) , which has a fatality rate of up to 30 percent . symptom admit febrility , puking , and looseness
Although this disease is transmit by tick , the woman showed no polarity of being sting by a check mark . Thus , the Nipponese health ministry has now reason out that it was the computed tomography who was infected first , give this the first mammal - to - human transmission of such a disease .
“ No reports on animate being - to - human transmittance cases have been made so far , " a Japanese health ministry official severalise theAFP news agency . " It ’s still not confirmed the virus came from the hombre , but it ’s possible that it is the first caseful . ”
Across Japan , China , and South Korea , SFTS is quite a newfangled infectious disease . It first emerged in 2013 in Japan and since then 57 of the 266 people taint with the disease have died . Currently , there is no efficient treatment for SFTS .
About 60 people contract the disease every class in Japan , but there are no prophylactic medicines or vaccines yet useable .
“ There are only symptomatic therapy , such as dealing with fever or diarrhoea , ” the ministry official said , cover French news siteFrance 24 . “ The best way to avoid the contagion is not to be sting by ticks . ”
A recent newspaper publisher inNaturenoted that tick bites are commonly painless , so some patients do n’t even know they ’ve been burn . It also noted that the relationship between SFTS infection and various check species needed to be further look into .
“ Early diagnosis is very important for treatments of SFTS cases , ” that paper notes . “ farseeing musical interval from illness onset to confirmation can lead to a holdup in the key menstruation for treatment . ”
While this particular case seems to have been exceedingly rarified , the Japanese health ministry is now urging hoi polloi to be cautious when coming into contact with isolated animals .
