- Cases have only been recorded in Japan, Russia and China.
- They have been identified by the UKHSA as diseases likely to spread in Britain.
Four new pathogens – including one from the same family as one of the world’s deadliest – are now being tracked by health chiefs.
None of these four diseases have yet been detected in Britain.
Cases have only been recorded in Japan, Russia and China.
One of the pathogens, a tick-borne virus called Oz, killed a woman in her 60s.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) identified them as part of its work tracking diseases likely to spread in Britain.
Four new pathogens – including one from the same family as one of the world’s deadliest – are being tracked by health chiefs. None of these diseases have yet been detected in Britain
OZ is a type of thogotovirus that causes fever and brain swelling in people it infects. It belongs to the Orthomyxoviridae virus family.
The Oz virus was first detected among ticks in Japan in 2018.
The country’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases confirmed in June that the first human case was detected last summer.
Local media reported that an unidentified woman in her 60s developed a fever and fatigue and was diagnosed with pneumonia.
When the patient was hospitalized, a tick was found stuck on her upper thigh and she tested positive for the virus. She died of heart muscle inflammation three weeks later, which Japanese health chiefs blamed on the Oz virus.
Studies suggest the virus is widely distributed among humans and animals in western and eastern Japan. It has been spotted in monkeys, wild boars and deer, according to local reports.
No cases have been reported outside the country, according to the UKHSA, which is closely monitoring the virus.
He also sounded the alarm about Haseki tick virus (HSTV), spotted among ixodid ticks and patients in Russia.
Further testing revealed that the virus is closely related to flavi-like viruses, similar to those that cause the illnesses yellow fever, dengue and zika.
A patient hospitalized in Vladivostok, southeastern Russia, tested positive for the virus, but no other human cases have been reported.
Research suggests it is spreading among ticks in at least two areas of the country, but further studies are needed to determine whether those in other countries are affected, UKHSA said.
Coxiella burnetii is another emerging pathogen monitored by the agency.
The bug has been spotted in marine mammal species.
The UKHSA said detections among fur seals in Australia in June revealed mutations that could cause miscarriages in the animals and allow the infection to spread to humans.
Another tick-borne virus under surveillance is the Yezo virus, discovered in Japan in 2021.
It is an orthonairovirus, which is in the same family as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, an illness caused by a tick-borne virus that kills up to half of those infected and triggers uncontrollable bleeding .
It was also spotted in a patient hospitalized with the virus in northeast China. Symptoms of an infection include fever, the UKHSA said.
The Yezo virus has also been detected in some patients in Japan, although their illness is milder, the statement said.
The UKHSA told MailOnline: ‘As part of our established global surveillance of emerging infections, we regularly monitor reports of new pathogens or new strains associated with known pathogens in other countries.
“No such infections have been detected in the UK.”
