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. 2022 Feb;60(1):65-71.
doi: 10.3347/kjp.2022.60.1.65. Epub 2022 Feb 23.

Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in Ticks in the Republic of Korea

Jun-Gu Kang  1 , Yoon-Kyoung Cho  2 , Young-Sun Jo  2 , Sun-Woo Han  2 , Jeong-Byoung Chae  2 , Jung-Eun Park  3 , Hyesung Jeong  3 , Weon-Hwa Jheong  3 , Joon-Seok Chae  2
Affiliations

Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in Ticks in the Republic of Korea

Jun-Gu Kang et al. Korean J Parasitol. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a zoonotic, tick-borne RNA virus of the genus Bandavirus (Family Phenuiviridae), mainly reported in China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (Korea). For the purpose of this study, a total of 3,898 adult and nymphal ticks of species Haemaphysalis longicornis (94.2%), Haemaphysalis flava (5.0%), Ixodes nipponensis (0.8%), and 1 specimen of Ixodes ovatus, were collected from the Deogyusan National Park, Korea, between April 2016 and June 2018. A single-step reverse transcriptase-nested PCR was performed, targeting the S segment of the SFTSV RNA. Total infection rate (IR) of SFTSV in individual ticks was found to be 6.0%. Based on developmental stages, IR was 5.3% in adults and 6.0% in nymphs. The S segment sequences obtained from PCR were divided into 17 haplotypes. All haplotypes were phylogenetically clustered into clades B-2 and B-3, with 92.7% sequences in B-2 and 7.3% in B-3. These observations indicate that the Korean SFTSV strains were closer to the Japanese than the Chinese strains. Further epidemiological studies are necessary to better understand the characteristics of the Korean SFTSV and its transmission cycle in the ecosystem.

Keywords: Haemaphysalis longicornis; Korea; National Park; severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus; tick; vegetation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in the publication of this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Map of the tick collection site, Deogyusan National Park, Korea. (B) Phylogenetic tree for SFTSV based on S segment sequences. Bold letters indicate the SFTSV sequences obtained from the ticks in this study. n=number of sequences. A scale bar shows nucleotide substitutions per position.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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