Japan’s Relapsing Fever Chronicles

Abstract

The first case of relapsing fever in Japan was reported in 1895, when a soldier or a military laborer who served in the Sino-Japanese War was infected with the disease in mainland China and later developed symptoms at a military hospital in Hiroshima after returning to Japan. The following year, epidemiological surveys conducted by Taichi Kitajima in Kobe City and Kagawa Prefecture confirmed a large number of cases and clarified the pathogenesis as an imported infectious disease.

Subsequently, relapsing fever was classified as a contagious disease as stipulated in Article 1, Paragraph 2 of the “Contagious Disease Prevention Law” enacted in 1897. This disease emerged as a primary focus of research and was one of the main research subjects of the National Institute of Contagious Diseases (Director Shibasaburo Kitasato), and numerous researchers have contributed to subsequent research achievements.

This review traces the classification transition from epidemic to contagious disease and then to infectious disease in Japan. It also examines the historical development of the legal regulations of contagious diseases surrounding relapsing fever. Furthermore, it considers the importance of “learning from the past, discovering new ideas” in the context of contemporary infectious disease education. Since there is no historical record of relapsing fever establishing itself in Japan and all cases are imported infections, a comprehensive review of information related to the history of relapsing fever epidemics worldwide, including research, was collected, organized, and described.