Plasma Exchange Did Not Reduce Viral Load in a Recovered Case of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome

Rie Utsunomiya Nishimizu; Seiji Shiota; Toshihiro Ishii; Kaori Sano; Tadaki Suzuki; Hideki Hasegawa; Eishi Miyazaki

doi:10.2169/internalmedicine.7075-21

Plasma Exchange Did Not Reduce Viral Load in a Recovered Case of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome

Intern Med. 2022 Jan 15;61(2):253-256. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.7075-21. Epub 2021 Jul 30.

Authors

Rie Utsunomiya Nishimizu^{1

2}, Seiji Shiota^{1

2}, Toshihiro Ishii^{1

2}, Kaori Sano³, Tadaki Suzuki³, Hideki Hasegawa³, Eishi Miyazaki^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Medicine, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
² Center for Community Medicine, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
³ Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan.

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne infectious disease caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). There is no specific treatment for SFTS, although several reports have indicated that plasma exchange (PE) can be an effective therapy for severe SFTS. However, whether or not PE can reduce the viral load is unclear. We herein report a woman with SFTS who had her SFTSV viral load measured just before and after PE. While the patient recovered, there was no significant difference in the SFTSV viral load after PE. Our results confirmed that PE itself does not reduce the SFTSV viral load.

Keywords: cytokine; plasma exchange; severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome; viral load.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Bunyaviridae Infections* / therapy
Female
Humans
Phlebovirus*
Plasma Exchange
Serologic Tests
Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome*
Viral Load