Emerg Infect Dis. 2021 Apr;27(4):1068-1076. doi: 10.3201/eid2704.204148.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tickborne infectious disease caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV). We report 7 cases of spontaneous fatal SFTS in felines. Necropsies revealed characteristic lesions, including necrotizing lymphadenitis in 5 cases and necrotizing splenitis and SFTSV-positive blastic lymphocytes in all cases. We detected hemorrhagic lesions in the gastrointestinal tract in 6 cases and lungs in 3 cases, suggesting a more severe clinical course of SFTS in felids than in humans. We noted necrotic or ulcerative foci in the gastrointestinal tract in 3 cases, the lung in 2 cases, and the liver in 4 cases. We clarified that blastic lymphocytes are predominant targets of SFTSV and involved in induction of necrotic foci. We also found that thymic epithelial cells were additional targets of SFTSV. These results provide insights for diagnosing feline SFTS during pathological examination and demonstrate the similarity of feline and human SFTS cases.
严重发热伴血小板减少综合征（SFTS）是一种由 SFTS 病毒（SFTSV）引起的新兴蜱传传染病。我们报告了 7 例猫科动物自发性致命 SFTS 病例。剖检显示出特征性病变，包括 5 例坏死性淋巴结炎和所有病例均有坏死性脾炎和 SFTSV 阳性母细胞样淋巴细胞。我们在 6 例猫中检测到胃肠道出血性病变，在 3 例猫中检测到肺部病变，这表明猫科动物的 SFTS 临床过程比人类更为严重。我们在 3 例猫中观察到胃肠道、2 例猫中观察到肺部和 4 例猫中观察到肝脏有坏死或溃疡性病灶。我们明确了母细胞样淋巴细胞是 SFTSV 的主要靶标，并参与了坏死病灶的诱导。我们还发现胸腺上皮细胞是 SFTSV 的另一个靶标。这些结果为病理检查中诊断猫科 SFTS 提供了思路，并表明猫科和人类 SFTS 病例具有相似性。
