Fig. 1

Geographic distribution of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome cases and environmental variables. a Geographic areas classified as forest (green) and agricultural land (light brown) overlaid with 42 confirmed cases. b Map of Miyazaki Prefecture divided into a total of 97 mesh units consisting of 10 × 10-km (second-order mesh) squares. Purple-colored mesh areas represent geographic units with recent cases in 2017. The remaining points represent cases observed during 2013–2016. c Altitude and d the proportion of farmland in Miyazaki. Altitude was measured at the center of each mesh area. Note that the unit of panel D is percentage times 100. In panels (a, c, and d), cases in 2017 are shown as empty circles; the remaining orange circles represent cases diagnosed during 2013–2016