Last Updated on August 6, 2020, 9:30 AM AST by Anthony Morris
A new infectious disease which is caused by a tick-borne virus has surfaced in China and has killed seven people and infected 60 other people.
The official media reported this news on Wednesday and warned about the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the virus.
State-run Global Times quoted media reports and said that more than 37 people in Jiangsu Province of East China contracted with the SFTS Virus this year. Later, 23 people were infected in the Anhui province of East China.
A woman belonging to Nanjing, which is the capital of Jiangsu, who suffered from the virus showed a set of symptoms including fever, coughing.
Doctors have also found a decline of blood platelet and leukocyte inside her body. The said woman was discharged from the hospital after she was treated for a month.
The report said that at least seven people have died in Anhui and Zhejiang province of East China because of the virus.
However, SFTS Virus is not a new virus. China isolated the pathogen of the virus in the year 2011, and the virus belongs to the Bunyavirus category.
Virologists believe that the infection could have been passed on to the humans by ticks, and they said that the virus could be transmitted between humans.
A doctor from the first affiliated hospital which is under Zhejiang University, Sheng Jifang, said that the possibility of human-to-human transmission can not be excluded and that the patients could pass the virus to others via mucous or blood.
Doctors warned that tick bite is the major source of transmission, and said that there is no need to over panic over such virus contagion as long as people remain cautious.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
