A clinical study of adult human parvovirus B19 infection

We investigated the clinical aspects of adult human parvovirus (HPV) B19 infection.

We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 21 consecutive patients [4 males, aged 32 to 43 years (average 38.0 years), and 17 females, aged 15 to 43 (average 34.2)] with adult HPV B19 infection who visited our outpatient department between July 1997 and June 1998. All diagnoses of adult HPV B19 infection were based on positive anti-HPV B19 IgM antibody in serum and/or positive HPV B19 DNA in peripheral blood.

The predominant signs and symptoms of the patients were: fever (81.0%), arthralgia/myalgia (61.9%), skin rash (47.6%), general fatigue (42.9%), lymph node swelling (38.1%) and edema (38.1%). Six patients had the following underlying diseases or complications: pregnancy, myoma uteri, cervical cancer of the uterus, lupus diathesis/ endometriosis, hereditary spherocytosis, and multiple sclerosis. The following abnormal laboratory findings (more or less than normal limits) were observed: anemia (81.0%), leukopenia (33.3%), elevated transaminases (28.6%), and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (57.1%). Six patients were considered to have persistent infection.

HPV B19 can infect healthy adults and causes more predominant signs and symptoms (arthralgia, myalgia and fever) than in children, and adult HPV B19 infection can be suspected from the familial history and clinical findings. Accordingly, more attention must be paid to adult HPV B19 infection, particularly when erythema infectiosum is prevalent in children.