Epidemiological investigation on an outbreak of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in northwest Zhejiang province / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the source, transmission route and risk factors of an outbreak of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Case definition was made and suspected cases were searched. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect information on demographic features (age, gender, occupation, residential address), history of exposure, clinical signs and symptoms etc. Blood samples were collected from 12 suspected cases while index patient's blood samples were collected from walls of the residence. All samples were detected for SFTS virus using RT-PCR. Sero-prevalence rates of SFTS virus IgG were also conducted among healthy people, host and vectors.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 13 cases including 6 male and 7 female were identified during this outbreak in May 2014. Index patient developed illness onset on April 23 and died on May 1. Secondary patients would include 8 family members, 3 neighborhoods, 1 individual who lived in the same village, developing illness onset between May 10 and 16, with a peak on May 13. The incubation period was 9-15 days. Clinical signs and symptoms appeared as fever (100%), chill (92%), anergy (92%), body aches (92%), anorexia (92%), headache (77%), nausea (69%) etc. Neutropenia and thrombocytopenia also appeared. History of the index patient showed that she collected tea leaves in her hometown 1 month before the illness onset. After index patient died on May 1, 9 secondary patients had directly contacted the blood of the deceased. Data from the retrospective cohort study showed that 'direct contact with blood' was an important risk factor (RR = 43.36, 95% CI: 13.66-137.63, P = 0.000).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Majority of the secondary patients of these clusters contracted the SFTS virus infection through exposure to the blood of the index patient. However, aerosol transmission could not be ruled out, suggesting that precaution should be taken for doctors, nurses and family members when looking after the patients with SFTS virus infection.</p>

Identification of Anaplasma specise in some anima sl from Xitianmu Mountain in Zh ejiang province / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To identify Anaplasma species circulating among livestock and rodents from Xitianmu Mountain area in Zhejiang province , Southeastern China and to analyze variations regarding to their 16S rRNA gene.Methods Samples of spleen, liver and blood were collected to extract DNAs .The 16S rRNA gene fragments of Anaplasma species were amplified by using a nested PCR and then sequenced .Ho-mology analysis was conducted by using BLAST program .The multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analyses comparing with the sequences of other Anaplasma species in GenBank were conducted by using MEGA 5.0 software.Results The 16S rRNA gene fragments of Anaplasma were detected in 1 cattle, 8 goats, 5 Rattus confucianus, 1 Apodemus agrarius, 1 Berylmys bowersi and 1 squirrel out of 129 animals. The natural infection rate of Anaplasma was 13.2% in animals from Xitianmu Mountain area in Zhejiang . The alignment and phylogenetic analyses indicated that there were at least four Anaplasma species prevalent in livestock and rodents from Xitianmu Mountain area , including Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma centrale and Anaplasma bovis.Moreover, there was a variant that obviously differed from Anaplasmma bovis and other Anaplasma sp.in GenBank.Conclusion The Anaplasma infection was detected among livestock and rodents from Xitianmu Mountain area in Zhejiang province .A newly discovered variant in rodents was likely to be a novel species .More close attention should be paid to Anaplasma infec-tion among human in Xitianmu Mountain area .

Methodology for quick finding of leading compounds based on botanical metabonomic concept of determination for mixture by 1H-NMR / 中草药

Objective To set up a methodology for quick finding of important leading compounds from complex plant samples. Methods A mixture fraction was determined by 1H-NMR techniques to find any evidence, further isolation of the fraction guided with this evidence was carried out. Results Based on the botanical metabonomic concept, a novel valuable sesquiterpene compound has been quickly isolated from the aerial part of Carpesium lipskyi. Conclusion The efficiency for finding of leading compounds could be improved if the isolation is based on metabonomics under the guidence of the new method of botanical mixture determination by 1H-NMR.