biology

SFTS virus

SFTS virus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SFTS virus rather than just read about it. In short: SFTS virus is a tick-borne virus in the genus Bandavirus in the family Phenuiviridae. The clinical condition it caused is known as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS).

Key takeaways

SFTS virus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SFTS virus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SFTS virus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SFTS virus is a tick-borne virus in the genus Bandavirus in the family Phenuiviridae. The clinical condition it caused is known as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). SFTS is an emerging infectious disease that was first described in northeast and central China 2009 and now has also been discovered in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan in 2015. SFTS has a fatality rate of 12% and as high as over 30% in some areas. The major clinical symptoms of SFTS are fever, vomiting, diarrhea, multiple organ failure, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), leukopenia (low white blood cell count) and elevated liver enzyme levels. Another outbreak occurred in East China in the early half of 2020.

History In 2009, Xue-jie Yu and colleagues isolated the SFTS virus (SFTSV) from SFTS patients' blood.

Genome The sequence of the genome was published in 2011. There are three segments—large (L), medium (M) and small (S). Five proteins have been identified—an RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), a glycoprotein N (Gn), a glycoprotein C (Gc), a nuclear protein (NP) and a non structural protein (NSs). The L segment encodes the RNA polymerase with 2084 amino acid residues. The M segment encodes one open reading frame encoding 1073 amino acid precursors of glycoproteins (Gn and Gc). The S segment has 1746 nucleotides of ambisense RNA encoding two proteins, the N and NSs proteins. These lie in opposite orientations and are separated by a 54 nucleotide intergenic region.

Evolution The virus originated 50–150 years ago and has undergone a recent population expansion. Five genotypes (A–E) have been identified. Strains from China could be grouped into all five genotypes while isolates from South Korea lay in three (types A, D and E) and those from Japan only in one (type E). The virus appears to have originated in the Dabie Mountains in central China between 1918 and 1995. Among bunyaviruses, it appears to be more closely related to the Uukuniemi virus serogroup than to the Sandfly fever group. It is a member of the Bhanja virus serocomplex.

Life cycle SFTSV is a tick-borne virus; it is not clear whether it can be transmitted by other blood-sucking arthropods. It can infect many mammalian hosts, including cats, mice, hedgehogs, weasels, brushtail possums and yaks. Humans appear to be accidental hosts, and play no essential role in the life cycle of SFTSV. SFTSV has been detected from the ixodid tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes nipponensis, Amblyomma testudinarium and Rhipicephalus microplus. In addition to tick bite, SFTSV can be transmitted from person to person through contact with blood or mucus of an infected person.

Epidemiology This virus has been found in the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning and Shandong. SFTS occurs in rural areas, from March to November, and a majority of cases are found from April to July. The virus has also been found in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SFTS virus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SFTS virus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SFTS virus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SFTS virus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SFTS virus

In research: SFTS virus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SFTS virus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SFTS virus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arthropod-borne viral fevers and viral haemorrhagic fevers, Hematology, Insect-borne diseases, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SFTS virus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study SFTS virus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SFTS virus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SFTS virus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SFTS virus in simple terms?

SFTS virus is a tick-borne virus in the genus Bandavirus in the family Phenuiviridae. The clinical condition it caused is known as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS).

Why does SFTS virus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SFTS virus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SFTS virus.