Japan reports 135 cases of potentially fatal tick-borne disease in 2025

Tokyo, Aug 19 A total of 135 people in Japan have been diagnosed with a potentially fatal tick-borne disease so far in 2025, figures from a national health research body revealed on Tuesday, local media reported.

Preliminary data from the Japan Institute for Health Security revealed that cases of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS, surpassed the previous record of 134 people in 2023. Over 10 people have been confirmed to have died of the viral infectious disease in 2025, Japan-based Kyodo News reported.

The disease is passed to human beings through tick bites or the blood of an infected person or animal. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has asked people working outdoors to cover their skin to protect themselves from being infected. After an incubation period of around six days to two weeks, patients often experience symptoms, including fever, diarrhea, vomiting and loss of consciousness.

Elderly people are more likely to experience serious symptoms, with over 90 per cent of patients in their 60s and above. SFTS is estimated to have a death rate of 10-30 per cent and many who die are aged in the 50s and above.

The SFTS cases have been concentrated in western Japan areas, with the highest number of patients reported in Kochi Prefecture at 14. According to the data, cases have also been reported in central and eastern Japan and as far as the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

Cases tends to rise in the spring to autumn period when ticks are most active. In the week that ended August 10, eight cases were reported in Japan, according to preliminary figures.

China first reported SFTS in 2011 while it was reported in Japan in 2013. No vaccine is available for SFTS, however, there are antivirals.

According to the UK government statement, a total of 13,824 SFTS cases (8,899 lab-confirmed and 4,925 probable cases) were reported in mainland China, including 713 deaths (average annual fatality rate of 5.2 per cent nationally) from 2010 to 2019.

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