Oral and ocular transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus

Chuan-Min Zhou; Rui Qi; Xiang-Rong Qin; Li-Zhu Fang; Hui-Ju Han; Xiao-Ying Lei; Xue-Jie Yu

doi:10.1016/j.imj.2021.12.002

Oral and ocular transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus

Infect Med (Beijing). 2022 Jan 6;1(1):2-6. doi: 10.1016/j.imj.2021.12.002. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Authors

Chuan-Min Zhou¹, Rui Qi², Xiang-Rong Qin³, Li-Zhu Fang¹, Hui-Ju Han¹, Xiao-Ying Lei⁴, Xue-Jie Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Virology, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
² School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratory, the Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China.
⁴ Department of Microbiological Laboratory Technology, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.

Abstract

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a tick-borne bunyavirus that could cause a severe hemorrhagic fever termed SFTS with a high fatality rate of up to 30%. Importantly, SFTSV is frequently transmitted from person-to-person and patients' blood or excreta are considered as the risk factors for transmission of SFTSV. However, the mechanism of person-to-person transmission of SFTSV is still elusive.

Methods: In this study, wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 J mice and a lethal SFTSV mouse model IFNAR^-/- A129 mice were utilized to evaluate whether SFTSV could be transmitted via oral or ocular routes. C57BL/6 J mice were inoculated with cell-cultured SFTSV via oral and ocular inoculation. IFNAR^-/- A129 mice were inoculated with cell-cultured SFTSV or SFTSV infected mouse acute sera via oral and ocular inoculation.

Results: We found that SFTSV antibody positive rates in C57BL/6 J mice were 70% (7/10) and 30% (3/10) in the oral inoculation group and ocular inoculation group, respectively on day 21 post SFTSV inoculation. The mortality rates of IFNAR^-/- mice with oral and ocular inoculation of cell-cultured SFTSV were 100% and 83.33% (5/6), respectively on day 6 post inoculation. The mortality rates of IFNAR^-/- mice with oral and ocular inoculation of SFTSV infected mouse acute serum were 100% and 66.67% (4/6), respectively on day 9 post inoculation.

Conclusions: Together, our results show that SFTSV can be transmitted effectively through oral and ocular membrane, suggesting exposure to SFTS positive excreta may be a high-risk factor of nosocomial transmission of SFTSV in hospitals and/or families. Family members and healthcare workers should be protected properly during taking care of SFTS patients to prevent SFTSV nosocomial infection.

Keywords: Fecal-ocular; Fecal-oral; Nosocomial infection; Person-to-person transmission; SFTSV.