Epidemiologic features and environmental risk factors of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, Xinyang, China.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease discovered in rural areas of Central China in 2009, caused by a novel bunyavirus, SFTS virus (SFTSV). The disease usually presents as fever, thrombocytopenia, and leukocytopenia, with case-fatality rates ranging from 2.5% to 30%. Haemaphysalis longicornis was suspected to be the most likely vector of SFTSV. By the end of 2012, the disease had expanded to 13 provinces of China. SFTS patients have been reported in Japan and South Korea, and a disease similar to SFTS has been reported in the United States.

Methodology/principal findings

We characterized the epidemiologic features of 504 confirmed SFTS cases in Xinyang Region, the most severely SFTS-afflicted region in China from 2011

SUBMITTER: Liu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4014392 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature