Epidemiological and etiological characteristics of fever, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia syndrome in Henan Province, China, 2011-2012

Xueyong Huang; Yanhua Du; Xiaoning Hu; Hongxia Ma; Haifeng Wang; Aiguo You; Kai Kang; Haomin Chen; Li Zhang; Guohua Liu; Bianli Xu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091166

Epidemiological and etiological characteristics of fever, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia syndrome in Henan Province, China, 2011-2012

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 14;9(3):e91166. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091166. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Xueyong Huang¹, Yanhua Du¹, Xiaoning Hu², Hongxia Ma¹, Haifeng Wang¹, Aiguo You¹, Kai Kang¹, Haomin Chen¹, Li Zhang³, Guohua Liu¹, Bianli Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ Henan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhengzhou, China.
² Henan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhengzhou, China; College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Xinyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xinyang, China.

Abstract

The Fever, Thrombocytopenia and Leukopenia Syndrome (FTLS) is caused by a bunyavirus known as the FTLS virus (FTLSV), which was recently discovered in China. We examined the epidemiological and etiological features of 637 laboratory-confirmed cases of FTLS with onset from January 2011 to December 2012 in Henan Province, China. The highest incidence of FTLS occurred between May and August: 76.5% of all laboratory-confirmed cases occurred during those four months. Of the laboratory-confirmed cases, 60.9% were in the 46-69 years old age groups; 96.1% (612/637) occurred in farmers; 98.1% (625/637) were reported from Xinyang Prefecture. During the same time period, 2047 cases were reported in China. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of FTLSV strains identified during 2011-2012 in Henan Province were ≥ 96% identical. This findings provides insight for developing public-health interventions for the control and prevention of FTLS in epidemic area.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Female
Fever / epidemiology*
Fever / etiology*
Humans
Leukopenia / epidemiology*
Leukopenia / etiology*
Male
Thrombocytopenia / epidemiology*
Thrombocytopenia / etiology*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by Henan Medical Science Project (200702016), Henan Province Health Department and National Health and Fimaly Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China Co-build Project (201101017), and China-Australia Health and HIV/AIDS Facility (EID35). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.