title: Mild clinical course of severe Fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus infection in an elderly Japanese patient.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kinan Hospital, 46-70 Shinjo, Tanabe-shi, Wakayama 646-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohagi
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology/Oncology, Kinan Hospital, 46-70 Shinjo, Tanabe-shi, Wakayama 646-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1150-0970
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Kinan Hospital, 46-70 Shinjo, Tanabe-shi, Wakayama 646-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Clinical Laboratory, Kinan Hospital, 46-70 Shinjo, Tanabe-shi, Wakayama 646-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiromichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamoto
authors.affiliation: Special Pathogens Laboratory, Department of Virology 1, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 4-7-1 Gakuen, Musashimurayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saijo
authors.affiliation: Special Pathogens Laboratory, Department of Virology 1, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 4-7-1 Gakuen, Musashimurayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimojima
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kinan Hospital, 46-70 Shinjo, Tanabe-shi, Wakayama 646-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kinan Hospital, 46-70 Shinjo, Tanabe-shi, Wakayama 646-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Tokuzo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujimoto