Parvovirus B19 In HIV infection: A treatable cause of anemia

We describe the case of an adult male patient with AIDS who presented with severe anemia and on investigation was found to have red cell aplasia due to parvovirus B19 infection. Bone marrow examination revealed absence of erythroid development and rare giant pronormoblasts. Repeated serological exam...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pathology 1996-08, Vol.28 (3), p.277-280
Main Authors: Fuller, Andrew, Moaven, Len, Spelman, Denis, Spicer, W. John, Wraight, Howard, Curtis, David, Leydon, Jenny, Doultree, Jennifer, Locarnini, Stephen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
AIDS
AIDS/HIV
Anemia - etiology
Biological and medical sciences
HIV Infections - complications
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Immunodeficiencies
Immunodeficiencies. Immunoglobulinopathies
immunoglobnlin
Immunopathology
Male
Medical sciences
Parvoviridae Infections - complications
Parvoviridae Infections - diagnosis
Parvovirus
Parvovirus B19
Parvovirus B19, Human - isolation & purification
red celt aplasia
Tropical medicine
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We describe the case of an adult male patient with AIDS who presented with severe anemia and on investigation was found to have red cell aplasia due to parvovirus B19 infection. Bone marrow examination revealed absence of erythroid development and rare giant pronormoblasts. Repeated serological examinations revealed a low level of parvovirus IgM but no IgG. Viremia was demonstrated by electron microscopy and by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The patient’s initial hemoglobin was 45g/l and over a four month period he required twenty units of blood. He was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (Intragam, CSL) at a dose of 400mg/kg/day for five days. This led to an increase in his hemoglobin to 135g/l. Parvovirus remained detectable by PCR but not by electron microscopy. Six months later the patient relapsed (Hb 65g/l). Again he was transfused and treated with intravenous immunoglobulin for five days. His hemoglobin rose to 153g/l and remained stable. He subsequently received maintenance treatment with 30g of intagram once a month. We recommend that parvovirus be considered in any HIV infected patient with recurrent anemia.
ISSN:0031-3025
1465-3931
DOI:10.1080/00313029600169154