Tick-borne virus: All you need to know about the disease that has killed 7 in China

Beijing: A new tick-borne virus has killed seven and infected 60 others, Chinese media reported, warning about the imminent possibility of human-to-human transmission.

More than 37 people in East China's Jiangsu province contracted the SFTS Virus in the first half of year 2020. Later, 23 people were found infected in East China's Anhui province, Global Times quoted media reports.

Unlike the SARS-CoV-2, the SFTS Virus is not a new virus. Belonging to the Bunyavirus category, China isolated the pathogen of this virus first in 2011. First identified in China, the virus has also been reported in Japan and Korea.


SFTS Virus leads to Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, a tick-borne infectious disease.

The early symptoms include fever and coughing. Clinical symptoms of SFTS include thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), leukocytopenia (low white blood cell count), neurological abnormalities and gastrointestinal disorders.

Human SFTS Virus infections have a high case fatality rate (initial rate of 30%).

Since its discovery, the number of SFTS cases has increased, with a current case fatality rate of approximately 10–16%, according to the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention.

Virologists believe that the infection may have been passed on to humans by Haemaphysalis longicornis, an Asian tick. The possibility of transmission of virus between humans has not been excluded, but there isn't any confirmation about it yet.