Abstract
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging hemorrhagic fever caused by the SFTS phlebovirus (SFTSV). SFTS patients were first reported in China, followed by Japan and South Korea. In 2017, cats were diagnosed with SFTS for the first time, suggesting that these animals are susceptible to SFTSV. To confirm whether or not cats were indeed susceptible to SFTSV, animal subjects were experimentally infected with SFTSV. Four of the six cats infected with the SPL010 strain of SFTSV died, all showing similar or more severe symptoms than human SFTS patients, such as a fever, leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, weight loss, anorexia, jaundice and depression. High levels of SFTSV RNA loads were detected in the serum, eye swab, saliva, rectal swab and urine, indicating a risk of direct human infection from SFTS-infected animals. Histopathologically, acute necrotizing lymphadenitis and hemophagocytosis were prominent in the lymph nodes and spleen. Severe hemorrhaging was observed throughout the gastrointestinal tract. B cell lineage cells with MUM-1 and CD20, but not Pax-5 in the lesions were predominantly infected with SFTSV. The present study demonstrated that cats were highly susceptible to SFTSV. The risk of direct infection from SFTS-infected cats to humans should therefore be considered.
Highlights
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging hemorrhagic fever caused by SFTS phlebovirus (SFTSV), which belongs to the genus Phlebovirus in the family Phenuiviridae, order Bunyavirales[1]
Four of six cats infected with the SFTSV showed weight loss from 3 to 8 days post-inoculation, and the body temperature was the highest at 7 or 10 dpi (Fig. 1)
The four fatal cats infected with SFTSV developed leukopenia and thrombocytopenia according to an automated blood cell counter (Fig. 2)
Summary
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging hemorrhagic fever caused by SFTS phlebovirus (SFTSV), which belongs to the genus Phlebovirus in the family Phenuiviridae, order Bunyavirales[1]. The fever stage is characterized by the sudden onset of a fever, headache and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms[5], showing thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia, lymphadenopathy and high serum viral loads. Surveys, low to high copies of viral RNA and antibodies against SFTSV have been detected in a variety of animals, both wild as well as domesticated, including dogs and cats[6,9,10,11,12]. Many of these animals show no or obscure clinical signs, suggesting that animals can be subclinically infected with SFTSV
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