Transient Red Blood Cell Aplasia in Association With Viral Hepatitis

Abstract

Transient pure red blood cell aplasia was verified during the course of viral hepatitis in two siblings whose illnesses occurred four years apart. The duration and course of the anemia was very similar in the two subjects, and in both the hepatitis progressed to a chronic active form. Autoimmune phenomena were prominent in one patient and suggested in the other, but a cytotoxic antibody to erythroblasts could not be demonstrated in the one patient in whom it was sought. The unique occurrence of such a syndrome in siblings, widely separated in time, suggests the possibility of a genetic predisposition governing the unusual response to a common illness.