A Japanese woman is believed to be the first to have died from a tick-born disease as the result of being bitten by a stray cat.

The unnamed woman in her 50s was helping the sick cat when it bit her, Japan's health ministry said.

She died 10 days later of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), which is carried by ticks.

As her body showed no signs of being bitten by the tick, the ministry concluded the cat had been infected by a tick bite and then passed the disease to the woman through the bite.

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"No reports on animal-to-human transmission cases have been made so far," a Japanese health ministry official told the AFP news agency.

"It's still not confirmed the virus came from the cat, but it's possible that it is the first case," they added.

SFTS is a relatively new infectious disease emerging in Japan, China and Korea.

The first infection in Japan was confirmed in 2013, and 266 people have since been infected, of whom 57 died, according to Japanese media.