[Cardiac involvement in fetal parvovirus B19 infection]

The review of 15 cases of cardiac involvement demonstrate the cardiac tropism of the human parvovirus B19. Ten of these cases were collected from fetuses during second trimester of maternal-fetal infections. In situ hybridisation detects viral DNA sequences in the nucleus of infected myoblasts. Myocarditis is the most frequent histological damage. Cardiac failure, secondary to myocarditis, may occur in the absence of fetal anaemia. When the fetus is deeply anaemic, like usually in cases of hydrops, damages of the cardiac tissues might hamper the reactional increase of cardiac output; therefore, they might account for the poor prognosis of parvovirus B19 fetal hydrops in the second trimester of pregnancy, despite transfusional therapy attempts in the third trimester.