Persistence of human parvovirus B19 in tissues from adult individuals: a comparison with serostatus and its clinical utility

Human parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is linked to variety of diseases, including erythema infectiosum, transient aplastic crisis, fetal hydrops, cardiomyopathy and, recently, hepatitis and arthritis. Persistence of PVB19 in asymptomatic individuals has been reported in skin, synovium, myocardium and bone marrow. A higher level of PVB19 DNA has been observed in various tissues from cases of disease than in controls. Simultaneously, equal detection of PVB19 DNA has been shown in both cases and controls. Thus, it has become fundamental to study PVB19 DNA persistence in tissues that are unaffected by disease. This will help to better understand PVB19 DNA persistence in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals and its possible pathogenic role in various diseases. A total of 70 adult autopsies were included and divided into seropositive (SP) and seronegative (SN) groups based on PVB19 IgG. Nested PCR for PVB19 DNA was carried out in myocardium, liver, kidney, and bone marrow. Of the 70 patients, 60 % belonged to the SP group and 40 % to the SN group. Seropositivity ranged from 50 % in the 12 to 20 year old group to 66.7 % in the 61 to 80 year old group. The viral genome was detected in 34.3 % of myocardium, 20 % of bone marrow, 10 % of kidney and 8.6 % of liver samples. There was no significant difference in the persistence rates between the SP and SN groups. The persistence of PVB19 DNA in various tissues ranged from 8.3 % to 36 % in the SP group and 10 % to 30 % in the SN group. The persistence of PVB19 DNA in all the tissues was low, and PVB19 serostatus had no influence on the persistence of PVB19 DNA.