Human parvovirus (B19) and erythema infectiosum

• Published in: The Journal of pediatrics Vol. 107; no. 1; pp. 38 - 40
• Main Authors: Nunoue, Tadasu, Okochi, Kazuo, Mortimer, Philip P., Cohen, Bernard J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Mosby, Inc 01.07.1985; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antibodies, Viral - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Counterimmunoelectrophoresis; Disease Outbreaks - microbiology; Erythema - epidemiology; Erythema - immunology; Erythema - microbiology; Female; Human viral diseases; Humans; Immunoglobulin G - analysis; Immunoglobulin M - analysis; Infectious diseases; Japan; Male; Medical sciences; Parvoviridae Infections - epidemiology; Parvoviridae Infections - immunology; Parvoviridae Infections - microbiology; Radioimmunoassay; Viral diseases; Viral diseases with cutaneous or mucosal lesions and viral diseases of the eye; Japan; Infection; Virus; Epidemic; Skin disease; Parvovirus; Parvoviridae; Viral disease; Child; Erythema infectiosum
• ISSN: 0022-3476; 1097-6833
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-3476(85)80610-7

An outbreak of erythema infectiosum (“fifth disease”) was studied in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1980–1981. Human parvovirus (HPV) antigen was not detected in any patients, but anti-HPV, measured by countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis, was found in 33 of 34 affected children and in 21 (15%) of 141 children of the same ages without the disease. Immunoglobulin M class anti-HPV was present in all 25 children with erythema infectiosum tested. In a survey of hospital patients, the prevalence of anti-HPV detected by CIE was 12% in the cohort 5 to 9 years of age, 19% in the cohort 10 to 14 years, and 32 to 55% in the cohorts ≥30 years. The antibody reactions in the cases of erythema infectiosum, which were already well established at the onset of disease, indicate that HPV was the cause of the outbreak.