Browsing by Author "Ye L"

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    Hedgehogs as Amplifying Hosts of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus, China.
    (2022-12) Zhao C; Zhang X; Si X; Ye L; Lawrence K; Lu Y; Du C; Xu H; Yang Q; Xia Q; Yu G; Xu W; Yuan F; Hao J; Jiang J-F; Zheng A
    Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a tickborne bandavirus mainly transmitted by Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks in East Asia, mostly in rural areas. As of April 2022, the amplifying host involved in the natural transmission of SFTSV remained unidentified. Our epidemiologic field survey conducted in endemic areas in China showed that hedgehogs were widely distributed, had heavy tick infestations, and had high SFTSV seroprevalence and RNA prevalence. After experimental infection of Erinaceus amurensis and Atelerix albiventris hedgehogs with SFTSV, we detected robust but transitory viremias that lasted for 9-11 days. We completed the SFTSV transmission cycle between hedgehogs and nymph and adult H. longicornis ticks under laboratory conditions with 100% efficiency. Furthermore, naive H. longicornis ticks could be infected by SFTSV-positive ticks co-feeding on naive hedgehogs; we confirmed transstadial transmission of SFTSV. Our study suggests that the hedgehogs are a notable wildlife amplifying host of SFTSV in China.
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    Rapid Spread of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus by Parthenogenetic Asian Longhorned Ticks.
    (2022-02) Zhang X; Zhao C; Cheng C; Zhang G; Yu T; Lawrence K; Li H; Sun J; Yang Z; Ye L; Chu H; Wang Y; Han X; Jia Y; Fan S; Kanuka H; Tanaka T; Jenkins C; Gedye K; Chandra S; Price DC; Liu Q; Choi YK; Zhan X; Zhang Z; Zheng A
    Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is spreading rapidly in Asia. This virus is transmitted by the Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis), which has parthenogenetically and sexually reproducing populations. Parthenogenetic populations were found in ≥15 provinces in China and strongly correlated with the distribution of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome cases. However, distribution of these cases was poorly correlated with the distribution of populations of bisexual ticks. Phylogeographic analysis suggested that the parthenogenetic population spread much faster than bisexual population because colonization is independent of sexual reproduction. A higher proportion of parthenogenetic ticks was collected from migratory birds captured at an SFTSV-endemic area, implicating the contribution to the long-range movement of these ticks in China. The SFTSV susceptibility of parthenogenetic females was similar to that of bisexual females under laboratory conditions. These results suggest that parthenogenetic Asian longhorned ticks, probably transported by migratory birds, play a major role in the rapid spread of SFTSV.