Thailand Medical Specialist Warn of SFTS Virus Outbreak With 53 Infections and 5 Deaths
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Sep 13, 2026 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
A leading Thai medical specialist cum virologists is raising concerns about Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, or SFTS, after Thailand recorded 53 human infections and five deaths from the potentially fatal tick-borne disease.
Professor Yong Poovorawan of the Clinical Virology Center of Excellence at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, highlighted the situation on September 12, warning that SFTS deserves greater attention as researchers also investigate evidence that other tick-borne viruses could produce a remarkably similar clinical syndrome.
Thai specialists warn that SFTS spread by ticks has caused 53 reported infections and five deaths while another
emerging tick-borne virus raises new diagnostic concerns.
Dog Ticks Linked to Cases in Thailand
SFTS is not a newly recognized disease. It has been known for more than 15 years and is particularly associated with China, Japan, and South Korea.
However, the epidemiological situation in Thailand differs in an important way. In China, infections have primarily been associated with the long-horned tick Haemaphysalis longicornis, which can infest deer and other wild animals. In Thailand, researchers have focused particularly on the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus.
Professor Yong said his center has studied the disease for more than seven years. Thailand has now reported 53 cases and five deaths, with infections reported across the country.
The virus associated with SFTS belongs to the family Phenuiviridae and genus Bandavirus. Severe disease can be particularly dangerous for elderly individuals, people with weakened immune systems, and patients with underlying chronic illnesses.
Symptoms Can Resemble Dengue
One major challenge is that SFTS can initially resemble dengue and other febrile illnesses commonly encountered in Thailand.
Patients can develop high fever, thrombocytopenia, or abnormally low platelet levels, together with reduced white blood cell counts. Severe infections can progress to organ failure and death.
This overlap creates an important diagnostic problem, particularly when patients with fever and thrombocytopenia test negative for dengue and other recognized pathogens.
According to Professor Yong, more than 30 percent of patients clinically diagnosed with SFTS do not have the expected virus detected, raising the possibility that additional pathogens could be responsible for some illnesses presenting with the same syndrome.
Emerging Virus in China Raises New Questions
Adding to these concerns are reports from China describing an emerging tick-associated virus producing similar clinical manifestations.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/chinese-scientists-discover-new-pathogenic-orthonairovirus-called-altnv-causing-flu-like-illness-in-hundreds-of-patients
The newly identified virus belongs to the family Nairoviridae and genus Orthonairovirus
. It has reportedly been detected in patients suffering severe fever and thrombocytopenia in whom previously recognized viruses could not be identified. Importantly, the virus has also been detected in ticks.
The findings suggest that severe febrile illness accompanied by thrombocytopenia may not necessarily result from one viral pathogen.
For researchers, that distinction is critical. If multiple viruses circulating in ticks can produce nearly identical symptoms, conventional clinical diagnosis alone may be insufficient to determine which pathogen has infected a patient.
The presence of different viruses associated with similar tick vectors and overlapping disease presentations also strengthens the case for differential molecular diagnostic testing in endemic regions.
Thailand Plans Expanded Diagnostic Testing
Professor Yong said the Clinical Virology Center plans to develop diagnostic testing that could help determine whether the emerging virus reported in China is also present in Thailand.
Existing stored patient samples could potentially be retested once appropriate assays are available. Such retrospective testing could reveal whether previously unexplained cases of fever and thrombocytopenia were caused by another tick-borne virus and provide an indication of how widely it may already be circulating.
As this
Thailand Medical News report highlights, identifying the exact pathogen is especially important because unexplained fever with falling platelet counts can easily be attributed to better-known infections such as dengue.
Dog Owners Urged to Handle Ticks Carefully
Professor Yong also warned dog owners against crushing or removing ticks with bare hands because direct contact during tick handling could potentially expose people to infection.
Regular checks for ticks and appropriate tick-prevention measures for dogs are particularly important as increasing numbers of pets live closely with their owners inside homes.
The 53 reported infections and five deaths demonstrate that SFTS is already a genuine health concern in Thailand. More importantly, evidence that additional tick-borne viruses can produce almost indistinguishable symptoms means surveillance cannot focus on a single pathogen. Expanded molecular testing, investigation of unexplained thrombocytopenia cases, analysis of stored samples, and continued monitoring of ticks will be essential to establish whether other emerging viruses are already circulating in Thailand and to enable health authorities to respond rapidly if they are detected.
References:
https://www.facebook.com/yong.poovorawan/posts/38564153536533792?ref=embed_post
https://www.nhghealth.com.sg/ncid/for-healthcare-professionals/joint-moh-ncid-guidances
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/severe-fever-with-thrombocytopaenia-syndrome-sfts-epidemiology-outbreaks-and-guidance
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/28/12/22-1183_article 
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