Journal Article

The First Identification and Retrospective Study of Severe Fever With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome in Japan

Saito, Tomoya, Kurane, Ichiro, Katano, Harutaka, Nagata, Noriyo, Sakai, Takenori, Senba, Takanori, Miyahara, Masaharu, Nakajima, Kensuke, Katayama, Yukie, Takahashi, Toru, Yamagishi, Takuya, Kaneyuki, Shozo, Ninomiya, Daisuke, Sato, Yuko, Saijo, Masayuki, Ishido, Aki, Shigeoka, Toru, Fukushima, Kazuko, Ogata, Momoko, Hosokawa, Takanori, Mizutani, Tetsuya, Okuda, Masaru, Kohno, Shigeru, Suemori, Koichiro, Izumikawa, Koichi, Ijuin, Masahito, Yasukawa, Masaki, Yoshikawa, Tomoki, Shimojima, Masayuki, Doi, Kazuko, Kawabe, Yojiro, Nakajima, Noriko, Umeki, Kazunori, Fukushi, Shuetsu, Kurihara, Shintaro, Omatsu, Tsutomu, Tani, Hideki, Maeda, Ken, Oishi, Kazunori, Suzuki, Tadaki, Sakaguchi, Shota, Fukuma, Aiko, Azuma, Taichi, Tominaga, Takayuki, Morikawa, Shigeru, Fukumoto, Hitomi, Honda, Masahiro, Satoh, Akira, Hasegawa, Hideki, Kamei, Toshiaki

2014

Overview

Background. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV), a novel bunyavirus reported to be endemic in central and northeastern China. This article describes the first identified patient with SFTS and a retrospective study on SFTS in Japan. Methods. Virologie and pathologic examinations were performed on the patient's samples. Laboratory diagnosis of SFTS was made by isolation/genome amplification and/or the detection of anti-SFTSV immunoglobulin G antibody in sera. Physicians were alerted to the initial diagnosis and asked whether they had previously treated patients with symptoms similar to those of SFTS. Results. A female patient who died in 2012 received a diagnosis of SFTS. Ten additional patients with SFTS were then retrospectively identified. All patients were aged ≥50 years and lived in western Japan. Six cases were fatal. The ratio of males to females was 8:3. SFTSV was isolated from 8 patients. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that all of the Japanese SFTSV isolates formed a genotype independent to those from China. Most patients showed symptoms due to hemorrhage, possibly because of disseminated intravascular coagulation and/or hemophagocytosis. Conclusions. SFTS has been endemic to Japan, and SFTSV has been circulating naturally within the country.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Subject: Animals / Biological and medical sciences / Bone marrow / Bunyaviridae Infections - diagnosis / Bunyaviridae Infections - virology / Bunyavirus / Chlorocebus aethiops / Editor's Choice / Female / Fever / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Genomes / Humans / Infections / Infectious diseases / Japan / Lymph nodes / Major and Brief Reports / Male / Medical sciences / Microbiology / Middle Aged / Orthobunyavirus / Phlebovirus - genetics / Phlebovirus - isolation & purification / Phylogeny / Retrospective Studies / RNA / Thrombocytopenia / Vero Cells / Virology / Viruses