Introduction

Abstract

Novel viral hemorrhagic fever named “severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) (N Engl J Med 364:1523-1532, 2011)" or “fever, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia syndrome (FTLS) (PLoS Pathog 7:e1002369, 2011)", both of which are an identical disease, was discovered in China. SFTS is a tick-borne and generalized infection caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV), which is classified in the genus of Phlebovirus of the Bunyaviridae family, with high morbidity and mortality. According the the recent International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, the name of the virus has been changed from SFTSV to Huaiyangshan bangyangvirus, Banyangvirus genus of the Phenuiviridae family. However, the names of the disease and the virus used in this textbook are SFTS and SFTSV, respectively, because the disease and virus names have been used and recognaized widely and internationally so far. It was later discovered that SFTS was endemic not only to China, but also to South Korea and Japan. The research on SFTSV and SFTS has been conducted by many researchers in terms of virology, pathophyisiology, pathogogy, entemology, epidemiology, veterinary science, developmet of specific treatments and preventive measures for SFTS. The discovery of SFTS might be one of the great achievements in infectious disease science history in a decade. SFTSV is maintained in nature in East Asia. It is desired to develop effective treatments for patients with SFTS and preventive measures for people at risk in the endemic regions. In this chaper, the author summarized the general features of SFTS obtained through the intensive studies on SFTS so far from the discovery of this novel virus infection to the development of specific treatments and preventive measures. It is evident that the studies on SFTSV and SFTS has just started and there are many issues to be addressed.