• Tomoki Yoshikawa, Masayuki Shimojima, Shuetsu Fukushi, Hideki Tani, Aiko Fukuma, Satoshi Taniguchi, Harpal Singh, Yuto Suda, Komei Shirabe, Shoichi Toda, Yukie Shimazu, Taro Nomachi, Mutsuyo Gokuden, Toshiharu Morimitsu, Katsuyuki Ando, Akira Yoshikawa, Miki Kan, Marina Uramoto, Hideo Osako, Kouji Kida, Hirokazu Takimoto, Hiroaki Kitamoto, Fumio Terasoma, Akiko Honda, Ken Maeda, Toru Takahashi, Takuya Yamagishi, Kazunori Oishi, Shigeru Morikawa, and Masayuki Saijo.
• Special Pathogens Laboratory, Department of Virology I, National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
• J. Infect. Dis. 2015 Sep 15; 212 (6): 889-98.

BackgroundSevere fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne acute infectious disease caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). SFTS has been reported in China, South Korea, and Japan as a novel Bunyavirus. Although several molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic studies have been performed, the information obtained was limited, because the analyses included no or only a small number of SFTSV strains from Japan.MethodsThe nucleotide sequences of 75 SFTSV samples in Japan were newly determined directly from the patients' serum samples. In addition, the sequences of 7 strains isolated in vitro were determined and compared with those in the patients' serum samples. More than 90 strains that were identified in China, 1 strain in South Korea, and 50 strains in Japan were phylogenetically analyzed.ResultsThe viruses were clustered into 2 clades, which were consistent with the geographic distribution. Three strains identified in Japan were clustered in the Chinese clade, and 4 strains identified in China and 26 in South Korea were clustered in the Japanese clade.ConclusionsTwo clades of SFTSV may have evolved separately over time. On rare occasions, the viruses were transmitted overseas to the region in which viruses of the other clade were prevalent.© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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