Symptomatic, prolonged Parvovirus B19 infection and accompanying illness in otherwise healthy adults

Abstract

Results In a 21-month period, 11 patients (7 females and 4 males), with a mean age of 36.9 (range 27-46) years with a symptomatic Parvovirus B19 infection were recorded and followed-up. Intrafamiliar exposure and occupational (health care) exposure were identified in two cases each. Clinical signs and symptoms included fever (100% of cases), polyarthralgia (90%), followed by headache (80%), anemia (70%), and rash. A mild-tomoderate myelosuppression of all hematological lines characterized 8 cases of 11 (72.7%), while increased serum transaminases were associated in 63.6% of patients. Three patients of ours deserved hospitalization (mean 10.8 days of admission), and five more cases were followed on Day-Hospital basis (for a median 75-day period); in four patients a treatment with i.v. highdosage human immunoglobulins was performed. Elevated levels of specific serum anti-Parvovirus B19 IgM antibodies were detected in all cases. In a 33-year-old female a severe anemia and a persisting headache, vomiting, and neck stiffness, led to RBC transfusion and a diagnosis of meningoencephalitis, with positive search of IgM antibodies and Parvovirus B19 viremia (detected by RT-PCR) in the cerebrospional fluid which lasted up to three months, despite treatment with i.v. serum immunoglobulins.