Case Reports in Infectious Diseases (Jan 2014)

Mild Clinical Course of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Infection in an Elderly Japanese Patient

  • Yuko Ohagi,
  • Shinobu Tamura,
  • Chiaki Nakamoto,
  • Hiromichi Nakamoto,
  • Masayuki Saijo,
  • Masayuki Shimojima,
  • Yoshio Nakano,
  • Tokuzo Fujimoto

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/918135
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2014

Abstract

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Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious and hemorrhagic disease recently described in China and western Japan. A 71-year-old healthy Japanese woman noticed a tick biting her after harvesting in an orchard and removed it herself. She developed diarrhea, anorexia, and chills eight days later. Because these symptoms continued, she visited a primary care physician 6 days after the onset. Laboratory data revealed thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia, and elevated liver enzymes. She was then referred to our hospital. Although not completely fulfilling the diagnostic criteria used in a retrospective study in Japan, SFTS was suspected, and we detected SFTS virus in the patient’s blood using RT-PCR. However, she recovered without intensive treatment and severe complications 13 days after the onset. In this report, we present a mild clinical course of SFTS virus infection in Japan in detail.