TY - JOUR AU - Luo, Li-Mei AU - Zhao, Li AU - Wen, Hong-Ling AU - Zhang, Zhen-Tang AU - Liu, Jian-Wei AU - Fang, Li-Zhu AU - Xue, Zai-Feng AU - Ma, Dong-Qiang AU - Zhang, Xiao-Shuang AU - Ding, Shu-Jun AU - Lei, Xiao-Ying AU - Yu, Xue-Jie T1 - Haemaphysalis longicornis Ticks as Reservoir and Vector of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in China T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2015 VL - 21 IS - 10 SP - 1770 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging hemorrhagic fever in East Asia caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV), a newly discovered phlebovirus. The Haemaphysalis longicornis tick has been suspected to be the vector of SFTSV. To determine whether SFTSV can be transmitted among ticks, from ticks to animals, and from animals to ticks, we conducted transmission studies between developmental stages of H. longicornis ticks and between ticks and mice. Using reverse transcription PCR, we also analyzed the prevalence of SFTSV infection among H. longicornis ticks collected from vegetation in Shandong Province, China. Our results showed a low prevalence of SFTSV among collected ticks (0.2%, 8/3,300 ticks), and we showed that ticks fed on SFTSV-infected mice could acquire the virus and transstadially and transovarially transmit it to other developmental stages of ticks. Furthermore, SFTSV-infected ticks could transmit the virus to mice during feeding. Our findings indicate ticks could serve as a vector and reservoir of SFTSV. KW - bunyavirus KW - phlebovirus KW - severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome KW - severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus KW - SFTSV KW - ticks KW - Haemaphysalis longicornis KW - viruses KW - vector-borne infections KW - transmission KW - transstadial transmission KW - transovarial transmission KW - tickborne transmission KW - vector KW - host KW - larvae KW - nymphs KW - adult ticks KW - China DO - 10.3201/eid2110.150126 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/10/15-0126_article ER - End of Reference