A case of tick-borne Yezo virus infection: Concurrent detection in the patient and tick

Yusuke Ogata; Tasuku Sato; Kanji Kato; Kazuhiro Kikuchi; Kazuya Mitsuhashi; Kei Watari; Kazuma Tamiya; Akiko Goto; Hiroki Yamaguchi; Ryo Hisada

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107038

A case of tick-borne Yezo virus infection: Concurrent detection in the patient and tick

Int J Infect Dis. 2024 Apr 3:143:107038. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107038. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Takikawa Municipal Hospital, Takikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.
² Department of Dermatology, Takikawa Municipal Hospital, Takikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.
³ Center for Infectious Diseases, Hokkaido Institute of Public Health, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Takikawa Municipal Hospital, Takikawa, Hokkaido, Japan; Department of Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Electronic address: r-hisada@med.hokudai.ac.jp.

PMID: 38580070
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107038

Abstract

A 76-year-old woman infected with Yezo virus (YEZV) developed liver dysfunction and thrombocytopenia following a tick bite. Despite the severity of her elevated liver enzymes and reduced platelet counts, the patient's condition improved spontaneously without any specific treatment. To our knowledge, this represents the first documented case where the YEZV genome was detected simultaneously in a patient's serum and the tick (Ixodes persulcatus) that bit the patient. This dual detection not only supports the hypothesis that YEZV is a tick-borne pathogen but also underscores the importance of awareness and diagnostic readiness for emerging tick-borne diseases, particularly in regions where these ticks are prevalent.

Keywords: Hokkaido; Ixodes persulcatus; Tick-borne diseases; Yezo virus.

Publication types

Case Reports