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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2023, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (11): 1062-1073.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.23-176

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Epidemiololgical and etiological analysis of two clusters of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome

Xin Yang1(), Yongxiang Wu1, Yu Leng1, Jiachen Li2, Chaojie Wang1, Yimei Yuan3, Zhen Wang3, Lan Zhang3, Hao Li1(), Wei Liu1()   

  1. 1. Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology,Academy of Military Medical Sciences; state Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity; Beijing Key Laboratory of Vector Borne and Natural Focus Infectious Diseases, Beijing 100071, China
    2. Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Northern Theater Command,Shenyang 110034, China
    3. Xinyang 154th Hospital, Xinyang 464000, China
  • Received:2023-06-29 Revised:2023-09-15 Online:2023-11-20 Published:2023-09-29
  • Contact: Hao Li,Wei Liu E-mail:499163792@qq.com;lwbime@163.com;lihao_1986@126.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(82172270)

Abstract:

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease, caused by severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), which is primarily transmitted via tick bites. Clusters of SFTS caused by human-to-human transmission have been reported both at home and abroad, mainly focused on the transmission or exposure modes. However, the correlation between SFTS clusters and viral genotypes has not been investigated. This study mainly reported two clusters of SFTS in Xinyang City, Henan Province, from 2022 to 2023, discussed the possible route of person-to-person transmission of SFTSV infection and analyzed the association between SFTS clusters and virus genotypes. We found that two groups of SFTSV in two clusters were clustered separately into different genotypes through viral sequence analysis of 4 confirmed patients. We also performed phylogenetic analysis, after including SFTSV sequences obtained from SFTS clusters deposited in the GenBank. Three SFTSV genotypes have been reported among cases of human-to-human transmission, suggesting that the occurrence of SFTS clusters may not be related to SFTSV genotypes. This study provided genetic evidence for revealing the chain of human-to-human transmission of SFTS clusters, indicating that contact with patients’ blood is an important transmission route of SFTSV. The findings laid the foundation for preventing and controlling human-to-human transmission of SFTS.

Key words: severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, tick-borne diseases, human-to-human transmission