Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease recently discovered in northeast and central China. SFTS has fatality rates ranging from 12% to as high as 30% in some areas. The major clinical symptoms of SFTS are fever, vomiting, diarrhea, multiple organ failure, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), leucopenia (low white blood cell count), and elevated liver enzyme levels. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease recently discovered in northeast and central China. SFTS has fatality rates ranging from 12% to as high as 30% in some areas. The major clinical symptoms of SFTS are fever, vomiting, diarrhea, multiple organ failure, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), leucopenia (low white blood cell count), and elevated liver enzyme levels. SFTS virus (SFTSV) is a phlebovirus in the family of Bunyaviridae. Person-to-person transmission was not noted in early reports but has since been documented. The life cycle of the SFTSV most likely involves arthropod vectors and animal hosts. Humans appear to be largely accidental hosts. SFTSV has been detected in Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks. SFTS occurs in China's rural areas from March to November with the majority of cases from April to July. In 2013, Japan and Korea also reported several cases with deaths. In July 2013, South Korea reported a death toll of 8 since Aug 2012 In July 2017, Japanese doctors reported that a woman had died of SFTS after being bitten by a cat that may have itself infected by a tick. The woman had no visible tick bites, leading doctors to believe that the cat — which died as well — was the transmission vector. The virus originated 50–150 years ago and has undergone a recent population expansion. In 2009 Xue-jie Yu and colleagues isolated the SFTS virus (SFTSV) from SFTS patients’ blood.