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Vol.38 No.3 contents | Japanese/English |
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Full Text of PDF (330K) Article in Japanese |
The Present Situation of Tick or Mite-borne Infectious Diseases in Japan
Hiromichi IWASAKI1)2)
1)Department of Infection Control and Prevention, University of Fukui Hospital, 2)Department of Infection and Clinical immunology, University of Fukui Hospital
Scrub typhus (ST), Japanese spotted fever (JSF), and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) are all tick- or mite-borne infectious diseases. In late years, the number of JSF and SFTS patients is increasing in Japan. A causative pathogen of ST and JSF is rickettsia, and tetracyclines are effective for these rickettsial infection. SFTS is a viral infection; however, the effective antiviral agent has not yet been elucidated. Clinical pathognomonic features (high fever, rash, and eschar) are common in ST and JSF, and these symptoms are extremely similar between these two rickettsial infections. Ninety percent of ST patients defervesce within 48 h after the administration of tetracyclines, although it takes several days to reach to defervescence using tetracyclines and some cases become serious state in JSF. It is suspected that the cytokine storm participates in severe rickettsial infections. It is important that we perform standard precaution including eye protections and N95 respirators during treatment of these tick- or mite-borne infectious diseases to prevent nosocomial infection. Alcohol-based products are effective for sterilization of these pathogens.
Key words：scrub typhus, Japanese spotted fever, sever fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome: SFTS, standard precaution
e-mail: hiwasaki＠u-fukui.ac.jp
Received: March 1, 2023
Accepted: March 24, 2023
38 (3)：86─89,2023
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