[Dermatologic symptoms of parvovirus B19 infections]

Infections with parvovirus B19 are often characterized by the well-known erythema infectiosum, usually accompanied by fever and arthralgia. Furthermore the virus may cause a lethal hydrops fetalis during the pregnancy or a severe aplastic crisis in patients suffer from chronic hemolytic anemia. We present three patients infected by parvovirus B19. Whose skin lesions included a non-specific exanthem, erythema multiforme, and purpura. The virus infection was confirmed both by serology and PCR identification. In conclusion the diagnosis of acute exanthems should include the search for virus infections.