Iijima Hayato, Watari Yuya, Doi Kandai, Yasuo Kazuhiro, Okabe Kimiko
Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Matsunosato 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan.
Sapporo Higashi Tokushukai Hospital, 3-1, Higashi 14, Kita 33, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, 065-0033, Japan.
Ecohealth. 2025 Mar;22(1):124-137. doi: 10.1007/s10393-025-01702-4. Epub 2025 Jan 26.
Anthropogenic disturbances degrade ecosystems, elevating the risk of emerging infectious diseases from wildlife. However, the key environmental factors for preventing tick-borne disease infection in relation to host species, landscape components, and climate conditions remain unknown. This study focuses on identifying crucial environmental factors contributing to the outbreak of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), a tick-borne disease, in Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Japan. We collected data on SFTS case numbers, annual temperature and precipitation, species richness of large- and middle-sized mammals, forest perimeter length (indicating the amount of forest boundaries), percentage of agricultural land, human population, and sightseeing place numbers for each 25 km grid cell encompassing Miyazaki Prefecture. Through the construction of a model incorporating these factors, we found that longer forest perimeter and higher temperature led to a higher number of SFTS cases. Precipitation, mammal species richness, percentage of agricultural land, human population, and sightseeing point numbers had no effect on SFTS case numbers. In conclusion, climate condition and forest fragmentation, which increase the opportunity for human infection, played a pivotal role in SFTS outbreak.
人为干扰会破坏生态系统，增加野生动物出现传染病的风险。然而，与宿主物种、景观要素和气候条件相关的预防蜱传疾病感染的关键环境因素仍不清楚。本研究聚焦于确定导致日本南部宫崎县蜱传疾病——严重发热伴血小板减少综合征（SFTS）爆发的关键环境因素。我们收集了宫崎县每个25公里网格单元的SFTS病例数、年温度和降水量、大中型哺乳动物的物种丰富度、森林周长（表明森林边界的数量）、农业用地百分比、人口数量和观光景点数量的数据。通过构建包含这些因素的模型，我们发现更长的森林周长和更高的温度导致了更多的SFTS病例。降水量、哺乳动物物种丰富度、农业用地百分比、人口数量和观光景点数量对SFTS病例数没有影响。总之，增加人类感染机会的气候条件和森林破碎化在SFTS爆发中起了关键作用。
