First detection of the Jingmen tick virus in Amblyomma testudinarium ticks from the Kanto district, Japan

In 2010, the Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) was discovered in ticks in China and has been shown to be distributed in several regions worldwide. Recently, cases of JMTV infection in humans have been reported in China and Kosovo, attracting much attention as an emerging tick-borne disease. In this study, we detected the JMTV genome in Amblyomma testudinarium ticks collected in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, during tick-borne virus surveillance conducted in the Kanto district. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the new JMTV strain is closely related to previous strains detected in Japan. This suggests that JMTV may have been maintained during an independent natural transmission cycle in Japan. In addition, unlike in other countries and regions, all JMTV strains in Japan were detected only in A. testudinarium ticks, suggesting that this tick species is the primary JMTV vector in Japan. This report is the first to detect JMTV in the Kanto region. Further studies are required to elucidate the potential risk of infection by this tick-borne virus in Japan. In particular, the prevalence of JMTV in wild animals should be examined to clarify its geographical distribution, host range, and transmission cycle in nature.