New virus transmitted through tick bites found in Japan

A previously unknown disease caused by a new virus called Yeso has been discovered in Japan.

The virus, as experts found out, is transmitted through tick bites. Japanese scientists have published the results of the study in the journal Nature Communications.

The first cases of infection with an unknown pathogen in Japan were registered back in 2014. Until 2020, 7 patients were recorded with similar symptoms. The course of the disease was characterized by fever, and the number of leukocytes and platelets in the blood of patients decreased.

Japanese researchers were able to isolate the virus from blood samples from two patients, which allowed genetic analysis of the pathogen. The blood of the infected, as it turned out, contained a previously unknown pathogen from the genus Orthonairovirus. This species also includes the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.

In 2019, on the island of Hokkaido, 2 patients came to the hospital, who had a fever after a tick bite. A blood test showed that the bitten people were infected with an unknown virus. After that, the scientists rechecked blood samples from patients who had presented with similar symptoms since 2014. Researchers have found 7 cases of Yezo infection.

To find the source of the virus, the researchers screened samples collected from wild animals in the area. Antibodies to this virus were detected in samples of sika deer and raccoons collected between 2010 and 2020. The researchers also found the RNA of the virus in the main species of ticks on the island of Hokkaido.

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