Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome in Cats and Its Prevalence among Veterinarian Staff Members in Nagasaki, Japan

Viruses

Shintaro Kurihara¹  Shingo Inoue²  Takeshi Nabeshima²  Mya Myat Ngwe Tun²  Kouichi Morita²  Tsuyoshi Ando²  Koichi Izumikawa³  Daisuke Hayasaka⁴  Weiyin Hu⁴  Miho Obata⁴  Hiroshi Shimoda⁴ 

[1] Department of Medical Safety, Nagasaki University Hospital, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan;Department of Virology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan;Infection Control and Education Center, Nagasaki University Hospital, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan;Laboratory of Veterinary Microbiology, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University, 1677-1 Yoshida, Yamaguchi 753-8511, Japan;

关键词: severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome;    cats;    veterinarians;   

DOI  :  10.3390/v13061142

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In this study, we investigated severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus (SFTSV) infection in cats in Nagasaki, Japan. In total, 44 of 133 (33.1%) cats with suspected SFTS were confirmed to be infected with SFTSV. Phylogenetic analyses of SFTSV isolates from cats indicated that the main genotype in Nagasaki was J1 and that unique reassortant strains with J2 (S segment) and unclassified genotypes (M and L segments) were also present. There were no significant differences in virus growth in cell cultures or fatality in SFTSV-infected mice between the SFTSV strains that were isolated from recovered and fatal cat cases. Remarkably, SFTSV RNAs were detected in the swabs from cats, indicating that the body fluids contain SFTSV. To evaluate the risk of SFTSV infection when providing animal care, we further examined the seroprevalence of SFTSV infection in veterinarian staff members; 3 of 71 (4.2%) were seropositive for SFTSV-specific antibodies. Our results provide useful information on the possibility of using cats as sentinel animals and raised concerns of the zoonotic risk of catching SFTSV from animals.

【 授权许可】

Unknown