Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T21:52:36.269Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Risk factors for person-to-person transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2020

Chao Ye
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Record Statistics, Shandong Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
Rui Qi*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
*
Author for correspondence: Rui Qi, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objective:

To determine the risk factors for person-to-person transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS).

Design:

Studies reporting the person-to-person transmission or cluster infection of SFTS were identified and included for risk-factor analyses.

Methods:

Risk factors were investigated by analyzing characteristics of index patients who caused cluster infection and correlation between exposure history and secondary infection.

Results:

Analyses of 23 clusters of SFTS infections indicated that all index patients died and that they all had a symptom of bleeding 24 hours before death. Of 89 secondary cases, 82% had been exposed to the index patients’ blood. The blood-contact–specific secondary attack rate was 62.4% (73 of 117). The risk relative value was 25 (95% CI, 15–42); thus, the probability of a person getting infected was 25 times more likely when they had contacted blood than when they had not.

Conclusion:

Exposure to blood of SFTS patients is the highest risk factor for person-to-person infection with SFTSV. SFTS patients’ families and healthcare workers should be educated to handle SFTS patients properly and safely to prevent the spread of SFTSV.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© 2020 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Yu, XJ, Liang, MF, Zhang, SY, et al. Fever with thrombocytopenia associated with a novel bunyavirus in China. N Engl J Med 2011;364:15231532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maes, P, Adkins, S, Alkhovsky, SV, et al. Taxonomy of the order Bunyavirales: second update 2018. Arch Virol 2019;164:927941.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robles, NJC, Han, HJ, Park, SJ, et al. Epidemiology of severe fever and thrombocytopenia syndrome virus infection and the need for therapeutics for the prevention. Clin Exp Vaccin Res 2018;7:4350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, H, Lu, QB, Xing, B, et al. Epidemiological and clinical features of laboratory-diagnosed severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in China, 2011–2017: a prospective observational study. Lancet Infect Dis 2018;18:11271137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, XJ. Risk factors for death in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Lancet Infect Dis 2018;18:10561057.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luo, LM, Zhao, L, Wen, HL, et al. Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks as reservoir and vector of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in China. Emerg Infect Dis 2015;21:17701776.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hutcheson, HJ, Dergousoff, SJ, Lindsay, LR. Haemaphysalis longicornis: a tick of considerable veterinary importance, now established in North America. Can Vet J 2019;60:2728.Google ScholarPubMed
Raghavan, RK, Barker, SC, Cobos, ME, et al. Potential spatial distribution of the newly introduced long-horned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis in North America. Sci Rep 2019;9:498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qi, R, Qin, X-r, Wang, L, et al. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome can masquerade as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019;13:e0007308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bao, CJ, Guo, XL, Qi, X, et al. A family cluster of infections by a newly recognized bunyavirus in eastern China, 2007: further evidence of person-to-person transmission. Clin Infect Dis 2011;53:1208-1214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, H, Hu, K, Zou, J, Xiao, J. A cluster of cases of human-to-human transmission caused by severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome bunyavirus. Int J Infect Dis 2013;17:e206-e8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gai, Z, Liang, M, Zhang, Y, et al. Person-to-person transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome bunyavirus through blood contact. Clin Infect Dis 2011;54:249252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gong, Z, Gu, S, Zhang, Y, et al. Probable aerosol transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in southeastern China. Clin Microbiol Infect 2015;21:11151120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, D, Jiang, Y, Liu, X, et al. A cluster of symptomatic and asymptomatic infections of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome caused by person-to-person transmission. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2017;97:396402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiang, XL, Zhang, S, Jiang, M, et al. A cluster of person-to-person transmission cases caused by SFTS virus in Penglai, China. Clin Microbiol Infect 2015;21:274279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jung, IY, Choi, W, Kim, J, et al. Nosocomial person-to-person transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Clin Microbiol Infect 2019;25:633e1e4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, WY, Choi, W, Park, SW, et al. Nosocomial transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Korea. Clin Infect Dis 2015;60:16811683.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, Y, Li, Q, Hu, W, et al. Person-to-person transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2012;12:156160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moon, J, Lee, H, Jeon, JH, et al. Aerosol transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus during resuscitation. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018:1-4. doi: 10.1017/ice.2018.330.Google ScholarPubMed
Wang, Y, Deng, B, Zhang, J, Cui, W, Yao, W, Liu, P. Person-to-person asymptomatic infection of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus through blood contact. Intern Med 2014;53:903906.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoo, JR, Choi, JH, Kim, YR, Lee, KH, Heo, ST. Occupational risk of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in healthcare workers. Open Forum Infect Dis 2019;6:ofz210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoo, JR, Lee, KH, Heo, ST. Surveillance results for family members of patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Zoonoses Pub Health 2018;65:903907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhu, Y, Wu, H, Gao, J, et al. Two confirmed cases of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome with pneumonia: implication for a family cluster in East China. BMC Infect Dis 2017;17:537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gong, L, Song, DD, Wu, JB, et al. Human-to-human transmissions of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in Anhui Province, 2010–2017. Clin Microbiol Infect 2018;24:920922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryu, BH, Kim, JY, Kim, T, et al. Extensive severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus contamination in surrounding environment in patient rooms. Clin Microbiol Infect 2018;24:911e1e4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed