Human parvovirus B19 infection among patients with chronic blood disorders

In a normal host, parvovirus infection can be asymptomatic or can result in erythema infectiosum or arthropathy. Patients with underlying hematologic and immunologic disorders who become infected with this virus are at risk for aplastic anemia. This small study attempts to confirm this relation between the human parvovirus B19 infection as one of the predisposing factor of aplastic crisis in patients with hemolytic disorders.

The laboratory records of 73 patients' serum samples, which were tested for detection of specific Immunoglobulin M and Immunoglobulin G antibody by means of the recurrently available indirect enzyme linked Immunoassay during the period from March 1998 to March 2001, were reviewed retrospectively at the Armed Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

For all patients there were 11 (15%) who were diagnosed as acute infections while 50 (68%) had serological evidence of previous exposure. Eight out of the 11 acute patients had chronic hemolytic disorder as the underlying disease while, the 3 other patients were organ transplant and connective tissue disease patients.

Seventy-eight percent of our infected patients were known to have an underlying blood disorder, while 22% had immunosuppressed disorders such as organ transplant and connective tissue disorder. Parvovirus B19 can be considered as one of the predisposing factors of hemolytic crisis in patients with chronic hemolytic disease.