Japan reports world's first death from Oz virus - first cases of malaria reported in US in decades follows 2018 trial of Gates Foundation GMO mosquitoes in Florida

South China Morning Post
Sat, 24 Jun 2023 08:44 UTC

© EPA-EFE/National Institute of Infectious Diseases

An electron micrograph of the Oz virus.

A woman in her 70s died in Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, after contracting the Oz virus, making her case the world's first death by the possibly tick-borne infection, Japanese authorities said on Friday.

The virus was discovered in the country in 2018, and while there may have been cases of humans and wild animals being infected, there had been no confirmation of its onset on a person until now, the authorities said.

The woman went to a medical institution in the summer of 2022 after developing symptoms, including fever and fatigue, according to the prefectural government and the health ministry.

She was diagnosed with pneumonia, but after her condition worsened, she was hospitalised, and an engorged tick was found on her upper right thigh, they said.

She died of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, 26 days after she was hospitalised.

Comment: Note that it is well known how some of the experimental Covid vaccines are known to cause myocarditis.

No vaccine exists against the Oz virus, which has not been found outside Japan, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo.

The institute has said that being infected by the virus is not necessarily fatal, but more studies need to be conducted on its symptoms and dangers.

The virus was first detected in 2018 in the Amblyomma testudinarium tick found in the western prefecture of Ehime.

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.

Antibodies have been found in wild monkeys, boars and deer in Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo, the central prefectures of Gifu and Mie, the western prefectures of Wakayama and Yamaguchi and the southwestern prefecture of Oita.

Two hunters in Yamaguchi also reportedly tested positive for the antibodies, the institute said.

"It is important to cover as much skin as possible when entering grassy areas so that you won't get bitten by these ticks," said an official at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Comment: In related news, just a few days later Texas reported an 'extremely rare case of locally transmitted malaria, which comes just after two similar cases in recent weeks:

"A Texas resident who spent time working outdoors in Cameron County was recently diagnosed with malaria," according to a health advisory issued Friday by t​he Texas Department of State Health Services. "DSHS has been working with local health departments to follow up on the case and determine whether other people may have been exposed. So far, no other locally acquired malaria cases have been identified in Texas."

T​he Florida cases were reported May 26 and June 19 by the health departments in Sarasota and Manatee Counties.

H​ow Rare Is Locally Acquired Malaria?

M​alaria is so unusual in the U.S. that it's considered an eradicated disease. When there are cases, it's almost always related to international travel.

B​ut the health departments in Florida and Texas said the three recent cases came from local mosquito bites.

T​he last case of locally acquired malaria in Texas was in 1994, according to the health advisory.

O​f 488 cases of malaria reported in Florida over the past decade, one other case besides the two recent ones are confirmed to have been contracted locally, according to state records.

H​ow Does Malaria Spread?

M​alaria is transmitted by certain species of female anopheles mosquitoes, which are present throughout most of the continental United States. But the disease is widely influenced by weather.

"Where malaria is found depends mainly on climatic factors such as temperature, humidity, and rainfall," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.

B​ut scientists warn that a changing climate could push mosquito-borne diseases into new areas and increase their prevalence in places where they already exist.

Globally, the most recent numbers from the World Health Organization estimate that about 247 million people in 85 countries contracted malaria and 619,000 died in 2021. Children under the age of 5 are among the groups most vulnerable.

Coincidentally, or not, Business Insider reported back in 2018:

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is partnering with mosquito engineering company Oxitec to develop a male mosquito designed to kill off future generations of malaria-transmitting bugs.[...]

Oxitec is hoping to try out some of its other lab-made mosquitoes in the Florida Keys this summer, even though residents have in the past voiced fierce opposition to the idea.