Tokyo (Agencies): A Japanese woman in her 70s who lived in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, died of myocarditis after contracting the Oz virus, making her death the world’s first fatal case of the virus.
The virus, first detected in 2018, and there may be cases of infection among humans and wild animals, according to the NIID.
According to the report jointly released on Friday by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the National Insititute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), she visited a medical institution last summer with symptoms including fever, fatigue, and joint pain and was diagnosed with pneumonia. After her condition worsened, she was hospitalized, and a hard tick was found sucking blood on the base of her right thigh, they said.
She died of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, 26 days after she was hospitalized.
The Oz virus is thought to be transmitted through the bite of the tick, the institute said, with the species existing across a wide area of Japan.
The virus is not necessarily fatal, but more studies need to be conducted on its symptoms and dangers, according to the NIID.
