Parvovirus B19 infection as a cause of anemia in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients during maintenance chemotherapy.

Abstract

Persistent parvovirus B19 tends to occur in immunocom-promised patients and manifests as pure red cell aplasia and chronic anemia. This study aimed to detect the contribution of parvovirus B19 infection to anemia in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receiving chemotherapy. Two groups of ALL patients were studied during maintenance chemotherapy: 50 patients with persistent anemia (ie, extending for >2 weeks) and 34 patients without anemia (controls). Serum parvovirus B19 IgG and IgM were investigated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the virus DNA was sought in bone marrow cells by a nested polymerase chain reaction assay. Parvovirus B19 DNA was detected in 11 of the 50 (22%) ALL children with anemia, 4 of whom were also IgM positive. In addition, IgM positivity was observed in nine (18%) other children who were negative for parvovirus B19 DNA. The children without anemia were found to be significantly different than those with anemia in terms of parvovirus B19 DNA positivity and DNA + IgM positivity (P = 0.03 and 0.01, respectively). IgG was found to be positive in a total of 19 (38%) cases, with B19 DNA present in 6 of them. These findings indicate the high frequency of parvovirus B19 in anemia in children with ALL and the importance of testing for its DNA in the bone marrow cells together with IgG and IgM antibodies in the serum of immunocompromised patients. It is important to consider parvovirus B19 infections as a cause of anemia and suppressed erythropoiesis in children with ALL who are receiving ongoing treatment.