Japanese spotted fever, one of tick-borne infectious diseases, has been rapidly increasing in Japan in recent years. , ``Where'' and ``To what kind of people'' were not clear.This time, a research group at Okayama University analyzed the outbreak trend of Japanese spotted fever for the first time, and clarified that it is increasing exponentially throughout Japan.
Japanese spotted fever was first reported in Japan in 1984, and for some time after that it was recognized as a disease that occurs extremely rarely in specific regions (warm regions such as the Pacific coast and western Japan).However, in recent years, the number of patients has been increasing year by year, and some patients may develop disseminated intravascular coagulation and multiple organ failure, which may be fatal.Accurate understanding of epidemic trends and epidemiology is required, but knowledge of regions and patient demographics that are on the rise is insufficient.
In this study, which estimated the incidence of this infectious disease for 20 years by age group and prefecture using public data on the number of Japanese spotted fever cases published by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, first, the outbreak of Japanese spotted fever is increasing exponentially in Japan as a whole.The annual incidence of this infectious disease in Japan as a whole in 2001 was 10 per 0.03 population, but in 2020 it increased tenfold to 0.33.The average annual rate of change was an increase of 10%.In particular, it was recognized that there was a rapid increase in elderly people aged 12.3 and over and in the relatively cold prefectures of eastern Japan, which had not been regarded as frequent areas.
The rapid increase in elderly people and in eastern Japan suggests that the effects of global warming and human activities are the causes. , is an important research result in considering public health measures.
