Viruses (Apr 2022)

Viral Load as a Factor Affecting the Fatality of Patients Suffering from Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome

  • Heyon-Na Jo,
  • Jieun Kim,
  • Seong-Yeon Hwang,
  • Jun-Won Seo,
  • Da Young Kim,
  • Na-Ra Yun,
  • Dong-Min Kim,
  • Choon-Mee Kim,
  • Sook In Jung,
  • Uh Jin Kim,
  • Seong Eun Kim,
  • Hyunah Kim,
  • Eu Suk Kim,
  • Jian Hur,
  • Young Keun Kim,
  • Hye Won Jeong,
  • Jung Yeon Heo,
  • Dong Sik Jung,
  • Hyungdon Lee,
  • Sun Hee Park,
  • Yee Gyung Kwak,
  • Sujin Lee,
  • Seungjin Lim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v14050881
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 5
p. 881

Abstract

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The clinical characteristics and the effect of viral RNA loads on fatality in 56 patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) were analyzed. The non-survival group (12 patients) demonstrated a significantly higher mean age (77 years) than the survival group (44 patients, 65 years) (p = 0.003). The survival rates were 91.7% and 8.3% in patients with Ct values ≥30 and differed significantly (p = 0.001) in the survival and non-survival groups, respectively. The survival rates were 52.4% and 47.6% in patients with viral copy numbers ≥10,000 and 94.3% and 5.7% in patients with viral copy numbers p = 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, viral copy numbers and initial Acute Psychologic Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores were identified as the factors affecting fatality (p = 0.015 and 0.011, respectively). SFTS viral RNA loads can be useful markers for the clinical prediction of mortality and survival.

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