Just as the world was getting hopeful to recover from the COVID pandemic with successful vaccine trials taking place in different parts of the world, China drops another bomb to worsen the situation. The country has reported a new infectious disease caused by tick-borne SFTS virus. So far the virus had infected 67 people and, taken away 7 lives as reported by China’s media on Wednesday.
The virus is said to be transmitted by tick bites and known as ‘Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome’ or SFTS virus. According to the state-run Global Times, More than 37 people in East China’s Jiangsu Province contracted with the SFTS Virus in the first half of the year. Later, 23 people were found to have been infected in East China’s Anhui province and, at least seven people have died in Anhui and East China’s Zhejiang province due to the virus.
This virus is not new as the first case had been reported in 2009 in Central China. Since then China had isolated the pathogen in 2011.
Symptoms:
 A woman belonging to Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu reported symptoms such as fever and coughing. On her medical examination, it was found that she had low platelet count and a decline of leukocyte in her blood. The woman was admitted to the hospital for a month for the proper treatment, after which she was discharged.
Other symptoms may include:
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Muscle ache
Doctors from Zhejiang University said that the possibility of human-to-human transmission could not be excluded; patients can pass the virus to others via blood or mucous. Although, doctors have warned that tick bites are the major transmission route, as long as people remain cautious.
