TY - JOUR AU - Kobayashi, Yusuke AU - Kato, Hirofumi AU - Yamagishi, Takuya AU - Shimada, Tomoe AU - Matsui, Tamano AU - Yoshikawa, Tomoki AU - Kurosu, Takeshi AU - Shimojima, Masayuki AU - Morikawa, Shigeru AU - Hasegawa, Hideki AU - Saijo, Masayuki AU - Oishi, Kazunori T1 - Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, Japan, 2013–2017 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2020 VL - 26 IS - 4 SP - 692 SN - 1080-6059 AB - We conducted an epidemiologic study of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) in Japan during 2013–2017. Of 303 cases reported during that period, 133 (44%) were included in this study. The median time between onset of illness and diagnosis of SFTS shortened, from 11.5 to 3.0 days, but the case-fatality rate remained high, at 27%. In 64 patients (48%), a close contact with companion animals was reported within 2 weeks of disease onset. Of these 64 patients, 40 were surveyed further, and we confirmed that 3 had direct contact with body fluids of ill companion animals; 2 had direct contact with the saliva of an ill feral cat or pet dog. These patients reported no history of tick bite, suggesting that ill companion animals might be a source of SFTS virus transmission. Direct contact with the body fluids of ill companion animals should be avoided. KW - severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus KW - SFTS KW - Phenuiviridae KW - epidemiology KW - companion animal KW - viruses KW - zoonoses KW - Japan KW - severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome KW - SFTSV KW - tickborne diseases KW - vector-borne infections KW - Huaiyangshan banyangvirus DO - 10.3201/eid2604.191011 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/4/19-1011_article ER - End of Reference