Woman dies from tick-borne disease after bitten by a stray cat

Tick

According to the Japan’s health ministry a woman in western Japan died from a tick-borne disease after bitten by a stray cat last year. The case is said to be the first world’s first human infection of the illness without a direct bite from a tick.
The woman who was in her 50s was bitten by an apparently ill stray cat when she was trying to take it to a veterinary hospital. 10 days later after bitten by the cat she died of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), which is carried by ticks.

The ministry assumed that the cat was first infected by a tick bite since the woman showed no signs of being bitten by a tick.

According to Japanese media, SFTS first occurred in the country in 2013. SFTS is a relatively new infectious disease emerging in China, Korea and Japan. The virus is said to have fatality rates of up to 30% and is especially severe in people over 50.

A health ministry official told AFP on Tuesday, that "No reports on animal-to-human transmission cases have been made so far," a Japanese health ministry official told the AFP news agency, adding that "It's still not confirmed the virus came from the cat, but it's possible that it is the first case."

Another official said there were no signs the woman had been bitten by a tick.

SFTS, or severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, triggers symptoms including severe fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea.

In Japan some 60 people contract the disease every year from tick bites with a fatality rate of some 20 percent, according to the Japanese ministry.

No preventive medicines or vaccines are available for the disease.

“There are only symptomatic therapies, such as dealing with fever or diarrhoea,” the ministry official said.There are only symptomatic therapies, such as dealing with fever or diarrhoea,” the ministry official said, adding that “The best way to avoid the infection is not to be bitten by ticks."