Table 3. Detection of SFTSV RNA and virus-specific antibody in serum samples of 24 patients, Shandong Province, China, 2011*.

Patient no. or parameter	Day of blood collection after disease onset	Acute-phase serum samples, n = 24			Convalescent-phase serum samples, n = 21	RT-PCR– or ELISA–confirmed SFTSV cases, n = 24
		RT-PCR, S RNA segment	ELISA titer		ELISA titer
1	5	–	2		0	+
2	10	+	64		ND	+
3	6	–	0		64	+
4	4	–	0		0	–
5	9	–	256		≥512	+
6	7	+	0		≥512	+
7	4	+†	0		128	+
8	13	–	0		128	+
9	5	–	0		0	–
10	7	+†	0		256	+
11	6	–	0		256	+
12	6	+	64		≥512	+
13	7	+†	0		≥512	+
14	5	–	256		≥512	+
15	4	+†	0		≥512	+
16	10	+	0		ND	+
17	6	+	32		128	+
18	13	–	512		NA	+
19	10	–	64		256	+
20	10	–	256		256	+
21	7	+	512		256	+
22	6	+	32		≥512	+
23	8	+	32		32	+
24	6	–	64		256	+
SFTSV positivity rate, %	NA	50	54		86	92
Sensitivity, %	NA	55	59		95	NA

* SFTSV positivity rate was calculated by using patients given a clinical diagnosis (n = 24) as the denominator. Sensitivity was calculated by using laboratory-confirmed cases (n = 22) as the denominator. SFTSV, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus; RT-PCR, reverse transcription PCR; S, small; –, negative; +, positive; ND, not determined; NA, not applicable.
†Positive by RT-PCR for S and large segments.