In this study, we investigated severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus (SFTSV) infection in cats in Nagasaki, Japan. In total, 44 of 133 (33.1%) cats with suspected SFTS were confirmed to be infected with SFTSV. Phylogenetic analyses of SFTSV isolates from cats indicated that the main genotype in Nagasaki was J1 and that unique reassortant strains with J2 (S segment) and unclassified genotypes (M and L segments) were also present. There were no significant differences in virus growth in cell cultures or fatality in SFTSV-infected mice between the SFTSV strains that were isolated from recovered and fatal cat cases. Remarkably, SFTSV RNAs were detected in the swabs from cats, indicating that the body fluids contain SFTSV. To evaluate the risk of SFTSV infection when providing animal care, we further examined the seroprevalence of SFTSV infection in veterinarian staff members; 3 of 71 (4.2%) were seropositive for SFTSV-specific antibodies. Our results provide useful information on the possibility of using cats as sentinel animals and raised concerns of the zoonotic risk of catching SFTSV from animals.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The first COVID-19 case in Nepal was reported in January 2020 in a Nepalese man who had returned from Wuhan to Nepal. This study aims to evaluate the government of Nepal’s (GoN) response to the COVID-19 pandemic and explore ways to prevent COVID-19 and other pandemic diseases in the future. As of May 2022, a total of 979,140 cases and 11,951 deaths associated with COVID-19 have been reported in Nepal. To prevent the spread of the virus, the GoN initiated various preventive and control measures, including lockdown strategies. The effects of COVID-19 are expected to persist for many years; the best strategies a resource-limited country such as Nepal can implement to control pandemic diseases such as COVID-19 in the pre-vaccine stage are to increase testing, tracing, and isolation capacity.

The largest dengue outbreak in the history of Nepal occurred in 2022, with a significant number of casualties. It affected all 77 districts, with the nation’s capital, Kathmandu (altitude 1300 m), being the hardest hit. However, the molecular epidemiology of this outbreak, including the dengue virus (DENV) serotype(s) responsible for this epidemic, remain unknown. Here, we report the epidemic trends, clinico-laboratory features, and virus serotypes and their viral load profiles that are associated with this outbreak in Nepal. Dengue-suspected febrile patients were investigated by routine laboratory, serological, and molecular tools, including a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Of the 538 dengue-suspected patients enrolled, 401 (74.5%) were diagnosed with dengue. Among these dengue cases, 129 (32.2%) patients who required hospital admission had significant associations with myalgia, rash, diarrhea, retro-orbital pain, bleeding, and abdominal pain. DENV-1, -2, and -3 were identified during the 2022 epidemic, with a predominance of DENV-1 (57.1%) and DENV-3 (32.1%), exhibiting a new serotype addition. We found that multiple serotypes circulated in 2022, with a higher frequency of hospitalizations, more severe dengue, and more deaths than in the past. Therefore, precise mapping of dengue and other related infections through integrated disease surveillance, evaluation of the dynamics of population-level immunity and virus evolution should be the urgent plans of action for evidence-based policy-making for dengue control and prevention in the country.

Dengue fever, caused by the mosquito-borne dengue virus (DENV), has been endemic in Myanmar since 1970 and it has become a significant public health burden. It is crucial that circulating DENV strains are identified and monitored, and that their transmission efficiency and association with disease severity is understood. In this study, we analyzed DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4 serotypes in 1235 serum samples collected in Myanmar between 2017 and 2019. Whole-genome sequencing of DENV-1–4 demonstrated that most DENV-1–4 strains had been circulating in Myanmar for several years. We also identified the emergence of DENV-3 genotype-I in 2017 samples, which persisted through 2018 and 2019. The emergence of the strain coincided with a period of increased DENV-3 cases and marked changes in the serotype dynamics. Nevertheless, we detected no significant differences between serum viral loads, disease severity, and infection status of individuals infected with different DENV serotypes during the 3-year study. Our results not only identify the spread of a new DENV-3 genotype into Yangon, Myanmar, but also support the importance of DENV evolution in changing the epidemic dynamics in endemic regions.