Clinical Characteristics and Diagnostic Prediction of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome and Rickettsiosis in the Co-Endemic Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.

: The Wakayama prefecture is endemic for two types of tick-borne rickettsioses: Japanese spotted fever (JFS) and scrub typhus (ST). Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne hemorrhagic viral disease with a high mortality rate and is often difficult to differentiate from such rickettsioses. SFTS cases have recently increased in Wakayama prefecture.

Serologic Evidence of Human Exposure to Ehrlichiosis Agents in Japan.

In retrospective analyses, we report 3 febrile patients in Japan who had seroconversion to antibodies against Ehrlichia chaffeensis antigens detected by using an immunofluorescence and Western blot. Our results provide evidence of autochthonous human ehrlichiosis cases and indicate ehrlichiosis should be considered a potential cause of febrile illness in Japan.

Non-severe COVID-19 complicated by cytotoxic lesions of the corpus callosum (mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion): a case report and literature review.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019- (COVID-19-) associated cytotoxic lesions of the corpus callosum (CLOCCs) have been reported as a rare neurological abnormality in severe cases. Here, a case of CLOCCs in the early stages of mild COVID-19 infection during the Omicron BA.1 epidemic is reported along with a literature review.

Characteristics and potential quality indicators for evaluating pre-travel consultations in Japan hospitals: the Japan Pretravel consultation registry (J-PRECOR).

Background: Awareness of pre-travel consultations (PTCs) and prevention methods for overseas travel-related diseases, and the understanding of PTCs among Japanese travelers and medical professionals remains low in Japan. A multicenter registry was established to examine PTCs in Japan. This study assessed the PTC implementation rate and examined the indicators of PTCs that can be used as criteria for evaluating quality.

[The Method for Estimation of Radiation Dose of Eye Lens Covered by Radiation Protection Glasses Using Personal Dosimeter for Trunk of the Body and X-ray Shielding Material].

Purpose: Radiation protection glasses is a useful tool for dose reduction of eye lens. However, the method to evaluate the dose of eye lens, which is covered with radiation protection glasses in actual radiation management situation, has not been established. We invented the easy-to-use procedure to estimate the dose of eye lens inside of radiation protection glasses for occupationally exposed person using an X-ray shielding material and an additional personal dosimeter for trunk of the body.

Facilitating the deployment of Japanese human resources for responding global outbreaks of emerging and Re-emerging infectious diseases: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: In response to global outbreaks of infectious diseases, the need for support from organizations such as the World Health Organization Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) is increasing. Identifying the obstacles and support needs for applicants could increase GOARN deployments from Japan.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved a web-based, self-administered questionnaire survey targeting Japanese participants in the GOARN Tier 1.

Urethral Tuberculosis: A Forgotten Cause of Urethral Stricture.

We describe the clinical features of a 75-year-old man who presented to our hospital with frequent urination for 3 months. Retrograde urethrography showed extended and continuous narrowing of the stricture in the anterior urethra. Cystourethroscopy showed extended narrowing of the urethral lumen without normal membrane.

A case of postpartum thyroiditis following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Postpartum thyroiditis (PPT) is characterized by mild thyrotoxicosis occurring within one year of parturition commonly followed by transient hypothyroidism. Having genetic background of autoimmune thyroid disorders is a risk factor for it because the immune reactivation during postpartum period is a trigger for PPT. Pandemic of COVID-19: caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection is a global health problem, and occurrence of Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis after the viral infection have been reported but occurrence of PPT with COVID-19 has never been reported.

Diagnostic performance of chest CT to differentiate COVID-19 pneumonia in non-high-epidemic area in Japan.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of chest CT to differentiate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia in non-high-epidemic area in Japan.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 21 patients clinically suspected COVID-19 pneumonia and underwent chest CT more than 3 days after the symptom onset: six patients confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 15 patients proved uninfected. Using a Likert scale and its receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, two radiologists (R1/R2) evaluated the diagnostic performance of the five CT criteria: (1) ground glass opacity (GGO)-predominant lesions, (2) GGO- and peripheral-predominant lesions, (3) bilateral GGO-predominant lesions; (4) bilateral GGO- and peripheral-predominant lesions, and (5) bilateral GGO- and peripheral-predominant lesions without nodules, airway abnormalities, pleural effusion, and mediastinal lymphadenopathy.

THE IMPACT ON THE EYE LENS OF RADIATION EMITTED BY NATURAL RADIONUCLIDES (LEAD-210) PRESENT IN RADIATION PROTECTION GLASSES.

Most radiation protection items made from modern lead contain 210Pb. This study estimated the impact on eye lens of radiation derived from the 210Pb in three types of radiation protection glasses. The counts from the glasses were measured using a Geiger-Müeller survey meter.

bacteremia following a cat bite.

is a major causative organism of swine erysipelas, but the infection has rarely occurred in humans. A soft-tissue infection with this organism is described as "erysipeloid." Most reported cases in human are related to occupational exposure.

[A Case Diagnosed Toxocariasis After the Intiation of Treatment with Steroids for Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangitis (EGPA)].

Toxocariasis causes a variety of symptoms. We experienced a case of toxocariasis which was initially treated with steroids for Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangitis (EGPA). A 53-year-old woman with the past medical history of bronchial asthma presented at the outpatient department in the middle of August.

[Possible roles of endogenous RNA virus elements in RNA virus infection].

While ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa seemed to be subsided, there are still some sporadic cases reported from the field. Many studies were conducted during the outbreak. It was identified that the virus can survive for a long period in certain areas of the survivors and they can be a reservoir.

[Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response in West Africa].

The largest ever outbreak of Ebola virus disease has been spreading in West Africa. The authors were deployed to Liberia and Sierra Leone as short-term consultants for the World Health Organization. Our mission was to ensure clinical management and infection prevention and control priorities in frontline treatment centres.

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 transmission during presymptomatic phase, Japan.

During an epidemiologic investigation of pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009 virus infection in May 2009 in Osaka, Japan, we found 3 clusters in which virus transmission occurred during the presymptomatic phase. This finding has public health implications because it indicates that viral transmission in communities cannot be prevented solely by isolating symptomatic case-patients.

Lemierre syndrome: a Japanese patient returning from Thailand.

After returning from Thailand, a 23-year-old Japanese man was admitted because of fever, sore throat, neck pain, and chest pain. Contrasted-enhanced CT scanning of his neck revealed an absence of flow through the right internal jugular vein representing thrombosis, and moreover, an increase in wall thickness of the right internal jugular vein and enhancement of the surrounding tissue representing thrombophlebitis. Lung abscesses were also identified by a chest CT scan.

Weil's disease in a patient living in Tokyo.

A 56-year-old previously healthy man was admitted to our hospital for disordered consciousness, anuria, and severe jaundice. The patient had not travelled recently, but he worked at a fish market in Tokyo. From his history and clinical observation we suspected Weil's disease and started the corresponding treatment.

[A case of dengue fever with viral-associated hemophagocytic syndrome].

A 32-year-old Japanese woman admitted November 1 for a 4-day fever and who had traveled in India October 14-22 was found to have no abnormal findings except for fever and luekocytopenia and thrombocytopenia. Negative rapid-test anti-dengue virus IgM antibody findings, however, became positive on hospital 2, with hemophagocytic cells found in the bone marrow, yielding a definitive diagnosis of dengue fever with viral-associated hemophagocytic syndrome. Some such cases with hemophagocytic syndrome have been reported in patients with sever dengue fever, but the rarity of the need for bone marrow examination means that it is unknown whether hemophagocytic syndrome occurs in mild dengue fever or whether our case was unusual.