During August and September, the author studied a group of Periplaneta fuliginosa (smoky brown cockroach) adults that appeared in a tree hollow in the evenings and thereafter moved outside the hollow. This suggested that a similar pattern of appearance, dispersion from, and return to the hollow could be repeated every night during their active season. This may cause some of them to move into human habitation. Their dispersion from the wood hollow began at sunset and continued for about 30 minutes. A similar trend was observed among the nymphs. Ten to twenty adults were seen at a time to be climbing up onto the surface of the wood trunk during the initial dispersion. Some adults flew away from higher parts of the tree, especially in early August when the temperature was higher than 31°C. Adults were seen thereafter on the surface of fallen leaves piled on the ground as well as on the surface of a neighboring stone wall and tree trunks around midnight. By about one hour before daybreak, the cockroaches were sighted rather infrequently, although some were seen very close to the tree and re-entering the hollow.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is one of the tick-borne diseases caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV) infection in East Asia. In this study, we conducted tick surveillance to clarify a prevalence of SFTSV in tick population. Ticks were collected from animals and vegetation in Kumamoto Prefecture between 2012 to 2016, and were provided for detection of SFTSV genomic RNA by reverse transcription PCR method. Of these 912 pooled tick samples, SFTSV RNA was detected from 14 of pooled-tick samples (Amblyomma testudinarium and other 4 Haemaphysalis ticks). Sequencing of two isolates revealed that the major Japanese genotype was found from dog blood sucking ticks (Haemaphysalis longicornis). These finding is important to public health concern for tick borne emerging virus infection in Kumamoto Prefecture. This is the first report of isolation of SFTSV from tick in Japan.