Clinical and laboratory findings of a sandfly fever Turkey Virus outbreak in Ankara.

Abstract

Sandfly fever (SF) is an arthropod-borne disease, which has not yet been reported from Ankara. In the summer of 2007, the disease started to be seen in our region, surprisingly causing severe clinical presentations. This report reviews the clinical and laboratory findings of patients with sandfly virus infection of disease outbreaks in 2008 and 2009. A retrospective single-centre descriptive study was performed. Clinically suspected cases were defined on the basis of epidemiologic history and clinical and laboratory findings. The sera samples of the suspected patients were sent to Germany for diagnostic assistance. 50 patients were included in the study. Fever, headache, photophobia, conjunctivitis, myalgia, arthralgia, nausea, abdominal pain and anorexia were common symptoms. Although the fever lasted only 3-6 days, complete recovery required up to 30 days. Leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and elevated serum aspartate-aminotransferase and alanine-aminotransferase levels were remarkable findings. The viral-load of Sandfly fever Turkey Virus (SFTV) was detected in the serum of acute patients ranged from 3.19×10(6) to 2.79×10(9) viral RNA molecules/ml. As a result we want to underline that the new type of sandfly virus causes a severe clinical picture with elevated liver enzymes and thrombocytopenia, to an extent not described before in the literature, which might be due to the elevated viral-load observed.

• Authors: Zeliha Kocak Tufan, Manfred Weidmann, Cemal Bulut, Sami Kinikli, Frank T Hufert, Gerhard Dobler, Ali Pekcan Demiroz
• Journal: The Journal of infection (J Infect) Vol. 63 Issue 5 Pg. 375-81 (Nov 2011) ISSN: 1532-2742 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 21824495 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2011 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• RNA, Viral
• Aspartate Aminotransferases
• Alanine Transaminase

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Alanine Transaminase (blood)
• Animals
• Aspartate Aminotransferases (blood)
• Demography
• Disease Outbreaks
• Female
• Humans
• Insect Vectors (virology)
• Leukopenia (virology)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Phlebotomus (virology)
• Phlebotomus Fever (blood, epidemiology, virology)
• Phlebovirus (isolation & purification)
• RNA, Viral (blood, genetics)
• Retrospective Studies
• Thrombocytopenia (virology)
• Turkey (epidemiology)
• Viral Load