This year, the first tick-borne patient with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) occurred in Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 25th that A, a woman in her 60s living in Sangju, was diagnosed with severe febrile thrombocytopenia syndrome. This is the first case in the country this year.
Mr. A received treatment at a nearby hospital due to loss of appetite on the 16th after working in an orchard near his home early this month. However, as her fever symptoms persisted, she was admitted to a medical institution in the province and upon examination, she was found to be positive for SFTS on the 23rd and is currently hospitalized.
SFTS usually develops symptoms such as high fever, vomiting, and diarrhea after an incubation period of 5 to 14 days after being bitten by a small tick carrying the SFTS virus between April and November. Particular caution must be taken as the fatality rate is high and there is no specific treatment.
Since 2013, when the first patient in Korea was reported, SFTS had a total of 1,895 patients until last year, of whom 355 died (mortality rate of 18.7%). Last year, 20 SFTS patients occurred in Gyeongbuk, and 10 of them died.
Ticks have the habit of parasitizing and sucking blood from different hosts in the larva, nymph, and adult stages. Nymphs develop in the spring (April-May) when the weather gets warmer, adults develop in the summer (June-July), and mainly larvae develop in the fall (September), causing the population to rapidly increase.
To avoid ticks that transmit SFTS in Korea, you should not stay in grass for more than 30 minutes, and it is especially recommended not to enter grass that is higher than your ankles. You should also wear long-sleeved clothes and long pants when doing outdoor activities, and take a bath when you return home.
An official from Gyeongbuk Province said, “If you have digestive symptoms such as high fever or vomiting within two weeks after outdoor activities, you should immediately seek treatment at a medical institution.”
