Background: Strains of Sindbis virus (SINV) are rarely detected and isolated from human blood samples as the viremia is low and short in Pogosta disease patients. Materials and Methods: To optimize SINV RNA detection in patient samples, a sensitive and specific SINV-RT-qPCR method was developed and validated. Results: The new SINV-RT-qPCR method was determined to be more sensitive than a previously used method. The assay was used to screen 882 serum samples from 846 patients suspected of Pogosta disease in Finland in 2023-2024. One sample was detected to be SINV-RNA-positive and was further subjected to virus isolation with whole genome sequencing. The sequence analysis suggested the strain to be closely related to those detected in Finland in 2005 and 2018, Germany in 2012 and 2016, and Sweden in 2009. Conclusions: The new optimized SINV RNA detection method is a useful tool for the detection of viremic samples for further studies.

Keywords: RT-qPCR; Sindbis; human isolation; vector-borne; zoonosis.

背景： 在波哥斯塔病患者中，辛德毕斯病毒（SINV）的菌株很少从人类血液样本中检测和分离出来，因为患者的病毒血症水平低且持续时间短。材料与方法： 为了优化在患者样本中检测 SINV RNA 的方法，开发并验证了一种敏感且特异性的 SINV-RT-qPCR 方法。结果： 新的 SINV-RT-qPCR 方法被确定比先前使用的方法更为灵敏。该实验用于筛查2023年至2024年在芬兰怀疑患有波哥斯塔病的846名患者中的882份血清样本。检测到一份样本为 SINV-RNA 阳性，并进一步进行了病毒分离和全基因组测序。序列分析表明该菌株与2005年和2018年在芬兰、2012年和2016年在德国以及2009年在瑞典检测到的菌株关系密切。结论： 新优化的 SINV RNA 检测方法是用于进一步研究病毒血症样本的一种有用的工具。

关键词： RT-qPCR；辛德毕斯；人类分离；媒介传播；人畜共患病。