BACKGROUND
Heightened surveillance of acute febrile illness in China since 2009 has led to the identification of a severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) with an unknown cause. Infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum has been suggested as a cause, but the pathogen has not been detected in most patients on laboratory testing.
METHODS
We obtained blood samples from patients with the case definition of SFTS in six provinces in China. The blood samples were used to isolate the causal pathogen by inoculation of cell culture and for detection of viral RNA on polymerase-chain-reaction assay. The pathogen was characterized on electron microscopy and nucleic acid sequencing. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, indirect immunofluorescence assay, and neutralization testing to analyze the level of virus-specific antibody in patients' serum samples.
RESULTS
We isolated a novel virus, designated SFTS bunyavirus, from patients who presented with fever, thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia, and multiorgan dysfunction. RNA sequence analysis revealed that the virus was a newly identified member of the genus phlebovirus in the Bunyaviridae family. Electron-microscopical examination revealed virions with the morphologic characteristics of a bunyavirus. The presence of the virus was confirmed in 171 patients with SFTS from six provinces by detection of viral RNA, specific antibodies to the virus in blood, or both. Serologic assays showed a virus-specific immune response in all 35 pairs of serum samples collected from patients during the acute and convalescent phases of the illness.
作者: ipsvirus 时间: 2015-3-17 19:49
The SFTS virus is a phlebovirus in the family Bunyaviridae.
The genome has three (-)ssRNA:large(L), medium (M) and small (S) .
The L segment encodes the RNA polymerase with 2084 amino acid residues.
The M segment encodes one open reading frame encoding 1073 amino acid precursors of glycoproteins (Gn and Gc).
The S segment has 1744 nucleotides of ambisense RNA encoding two proteins, the N and NSs proteins. These lie in opposite orientations and are separated by a 62 nucleotide intergenic region.
The life cycle of the SFTSV is not yet known. 研究道路还很长啊作者: marine0425030 时间: 2015-3-18 15:14
很棒的发现，希望可以沿着病毒学和免疫学方向研究下去，做出中国特色的病毒以及免疫学贡献。