Jap woman dies after bitten by cat

TOKYO: A Japanese woman has died from a tick-borne virus after being bitten by a stray cat in what is possibly the world’s first animal-to-human transmission of the disease. The woman in her 50s died some 10 days after being bitten by the cat last year after she took the animal to a veterinary hospital.

Authorities have since confirmed that she developed SFTS, a disease transmitted by bites from a certain group of virus-carrying ticks. Human-to-human infections of the tick virus through blood contact have been reported, but ministry officials believe the Japanese woman’s death could be the first case of a human dying from the bite of an infected animal. “No reports on animal-to-human transmission cases have been made so far," a health ministry official told AFP on Tuesday. “It’s still not confirmed the virus came from the cat, but it’s possible that it’s the world’s first case," she said.