Enhancing Sensitivity in Detecting Severe Fever With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus: Development of a Reverse Transcription–Droplet Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction

Abstract Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a highly fatal disease. Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) presents unparalleled sensitivity and enables absolute quantification of viral load. In this prospective study, we enrolled 111 patients with SFTS and collected 259 continuous samples. Our findings unveil a robust reverse transcription (RT)–ddPCR method for SFTS with a limit of detection of 2.46 copies/µL (95% CI, 1.50–11.05), surpassing the sensitivity of RT–quantitative polymerase chain reaction at 103.29 copies/µL (95% CI, 79.69–216.35). Longitudinal cohort analysis revealed significantly higher RT-ddPCR detection rates at days 10 to 11, 13 to 14, and ≥15 of the disease course as compared with RT–quantitative polymerase chain reaction (P < .05). Positive RT-ddPCR results were associated with declined platelet and elevated aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase on the same day vs negative RT-ddPCR samples. RT-ddPCR exhibits commendable diagnostic efficacy in SFTS, and it remains detectable in blood samples from patients with an extended disease course. Furthermore, RT-ddPCR correlates with clinical laboratory tests, furnishing valuable reference data for clinical diagnosis.