Acute Thrombocytopenia, Leucopenia, and Multiorgan Dysfunction: The First Case of SFTS Bunyavirus outside China?

Abstract

We report a 57-year-old man with acute thrombocytopenia, leucopenia, and multiorgan dysfunction. Patient was from North Korea and was temporarily working in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when he fell ill in March 2009. At the same time and unknown to us, many patients with similar clinical manifestations were admitted to hospitals in China. The Chinese cases—identified between March and July 2009—were recently reported to have been infected with a tick-born strain of bunyavirus, a new disease. The virus infection was documented in patients from central China and the region that shares the border with North Korea. The clinical manifestations, the time of disease onset, and geographical link of the patient with the region in which the disease is endemic suggest that the patient had SFTS bunyavirus infection.

The Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Bunyavirus (SFTSV) Antibody in a Highly Endemic Region from 2011 to 2013: A Comparative Serological Study

“…[2][3][4] The causative agent is SFTS bunyavirus (SFTSV), a novel member of the Phlebovirus species in the family Bunyaviridae.…”

First detection of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in the tick species Haemaphysalis concinna in Shandong Province, China

“…The major clinical symptoms of SFTS are high fever, leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, lymphadenopathy, and gastrointestinal pathology and symptoms (Du et al 2014;Zhao et al 2012). SFTSV had been reported in China, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan, and USA (Cui et al 2014;Denic et al 2011;Kim et al 2013;McMullan et al 2012;Takahashi et al 2014). Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks have been reported to be associated with the transmission of SFTSV (Sun et al 2014;Jiang et al 2012;Yu et al 2011).…”

Disruption of Type I Interferon Signaling by the Nonstructural Protein of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus via the Hijacking of STAT2 and STAT1 into Inclusion Bodies

“…The causative agent is a novel phlebovirus of the Bunyaviridae family, namely, SFTS virus (SFTSV), which was identified first in China and subsequently was found in South Korea (4,5) and Japan (6). Recently, another phlebovirus genetically closely related to SFTSV was isolated in the United States (7).…”