Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne hemorrhagic fever with expanding geographic distribution in China. Although SFTS virus (SFTSV) has been detected in ticks from Inner Mongolia, no autochthonous human cases had been documented in this northern province prior to this report. We report the first detection of SFTSV RNA in serum samples from two febrile patients with a history of arthropod bites in Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner, Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia, in 2022. Case 1 (41-year-old male) and Case 2 (44-year-old female) presented with thrombocytopenia/leukopenia and elevated liver enzymes, and both recovered after antiviral and anti-inflammatory therapy. Two SFTSV isolates (ZF53-NM-2022 and ZF96-NM-2022) were obtained and classified as genotype C3. Concurrently, tick virome sequencing of Dermacentor nuttalli from Erenhot City in 2024 identified a near-complete SFTSV genome (ELH_tick_2024, genotype C3 forming a distinct divergent lineage) from one pool, with a partial gap in the nucleoprotein open reading frame due to low viral RNA abundance. This study provides the first laboratory-confirmed evidence of autochthonous human SFTSV infection in Inner Mongolia and reports the detection of SFTSV in local ticks. These findings underscore the need for enhanced clinical awareness and expanded surveillance for SFTSV across northern China.
Uruguay reported a limited mpox outbreak during the 2022 global clade IIb epidemic, yet no genomic data from the country had been publicly available. Here, we generated and analyzed the first 17 monkeypox virus genomes from Uruguay, sampled during the 2022 outbreak and representing approximately 85
Adenoviruses are generally considered to exhibit strong host specificity, yet the host association and cross-species transmission potential of adenoviruses in understudied mammalian hosts, such as hedgehogs, remain poorly understood. Pathogen detection was performed through necropsy, virus isolation, and whole-genome sequencing on a deceased Amur hedgehog, followed by phylogenetic analysis and assessment of replication kinetics in MDCK and A549 cell lines and tissue distribution in a BALB/c mouse model. This study isolated an adenovirus, designated EamAdV-1, from an amur hedgehog (Erinaceus amurensis) that had exhibited severe respiratory symptoms prior to death. Genomic analysis revealed that EamAdV-1 shares > 99
Over the past several decades, the concept that human papillomavirus (HPV) can induce tumor formation has become well established. Persistent infection with high-risk HPV (hrHPV) types constitutes the primary risk factor for the development of nearly all cervical cancers, as well as a substantial proportion of malignant tumors of the vagina and vulva. The presence and abundance of certain bacterial species may confer protective effects against HPV infection and facilitate viral clearance, thereby reducing the risk of precancerous lesions in these anatomical sites. Conversely, other bacterial taxa may contribute to the promotion of pathological conditions. Consequently, elucidating the composition of the vaginal microbiota and its dysbiotic alterations in relation to HPV infection and persistence may enhance the predictive accuracy regarding infection outcomes. Furthermore, the precise identification of bacterial components associated with HPV-induced pathology holds potential clinical relevance and may inform alternative therapeutic strategies. Current technological advancements enable rapid, high-throughput analysis of the vaginal microbiome, which can be applied in longitudinal studies to delineate the roles of specific bacterial species in the initiation, prevention, progression, or regression of HPV-related cervical, vaginal, and vulvar lesions. Genetic and environmental factors that underlie the differential outcomes between viral clearance and cancer development remain an active area of investigation, with the microbiome emerging as a critical element that may modulate this balance by either promoting or inhibiting viral infection.
Accurate serological differentiation of Zika virus (ZIKV) and dengue virus (DENV) infections remains challenging in dengue-endemic regions due to extensive flavivirus cross-reactivity, particularly in populations with pre-existing DENV immunity. Although plaque reduction neutralization testing (PRNT) is considered the reference confirmatory assay, its labor-intensive and time-consuming nature, together with its interpretive challenges in flavivirus-endemic settings where cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies from prior DENV exposure complicate ZIKV-specific interpretation, limits its large-scale application. We therefore evaluated an in-house NS1-based IgG ELISA approach incorporating ZIKV/DENV optical density (OD) ratio analysis to improve serological discrimination between RT-PCR–confirmed ZIKV and DENV infections. Three ZIKV antigens, including envelope protein domain III (EDIII), MR766 Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) (derived from the African-lineage ZIKV strain MR766), and SV0127 NS1 (derived from the Asian-lineage ZIKV strain SV0127), were assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to determine discriminatory performance. Three ZIKV/DENV ratio metrics were calculated and compared: the positive-to-negative (P/N) ratio, the OD ratio (ODr), and the relative OD (rOD) ratio. The antigen-metric combination yielding the highest area under the curve (AUC) was advanced to the diagnostic validation phase. Optimal cut-off values were determined using Youden’s index to maximize sensitivity and specificity. Comparative performance was evaluated against a commercial ZIKV IgG ELISA using correlation analysis, paired t-tests, and Bland–Altman agreement analysis. In the antigen selection phase, the Asian-lineage SV0127 NS1 antigen combined with the ZIKV/DENV rOD ratio achieved the highest discriminatory performance and was therefore selected for the diagnostic validation phase. In the subsequent validation, the in-house ELISA using the ZIKV/DENV OD ratio with a cut-off of ≥ 2.35 achieved an AUC of 0.7083 (95
