A1‐reactive astrocytes and IFNAR signaling collectively induce neuronal cell death during infection of IFNAR1−/− mice by severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV), a bunyavirus that is endemic throughout eastern Asia. SFTSV was first discovered in 2009 in central China 1 and has since infected about 5500 people in China 2 and approximately 800 each in Japan and South Korea. 3 The disease (SFTS) is characterized by fever, thrombocytopenia, and central nervous system (CNS) symptoms including headache, vertigo, coma, and encephalitis 4,5 which has impacted as many as 45% of SFTS patients. 6 The mortality rate caused by SFTSV