Parthenogenetic ticks promote rapid spread of fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus( SFTSV ) , also known as new bunya virus, is a tick-borne bunya virus discovered in China in 2009 .

Tick-borne pathogens circulate between wildlife and ticks

Parthenogenesis refers to the reproductive mode in which eggs laid by female individuals can develop into complete new individuals without male fertilization

In this work, Haemophilus longhorn was collected from 73 counties in 20 provinces where SFTSV was endemic , and its reproductive mode was identified, and parthenogenetic populations were found in 42% of the counties .

This work further collected tick samples from Japan, South Korea, the United States, Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific Rim, and carried out phylogenetic studies through mitochondrial DNA

The study found that migratory birds are tick carriers and participate in the long-distance spread of ticks

This study analyzed the rapid dispersal mechanism of SFTSV and found the important contribution of the parthenogenetic population of Haemophilus longhorn to the SFTSV

The study was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases in February 2022 under the title "Rapid Spread of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus by Parthenogenetic Asian Longhorned Ticks" .

Article link: https://wwwnc.

Figure 1: On the left is the adult hermaphroditic Haemophilus longhorn, on the right is the adult parthenogenetic

Figure 2: Correlation of the distribution of the bisexual (A) and parthenogenetic (B) Haemophilus longhorn with the distribution of SFTSV