Seasonal Dynamics of Hedgehog-Borne Ticks and Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in Beijing’s Urban Parks

For viral data collection, total RNAs were extracted from tick homogenates and hedgehog blood cells using either TRIzol reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) or the RNeasy kit (Qiagen, Germany), in accordance with the respective manufacturer's protocols. The RNA samples were then reverse transcribed using a One-Step SYBR PrimerScript reverse transcription (RT)-PCR kit (TaKaRa, Japan).

Following reverse transcription, the target viral fragments were amplified using the nested PCR method. The resulting PCR products were then sequenced by the Sanger method for further analysis.