title: Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein--a marker of fetal aplastic crisis during intrauterine human parvovirus infection.
abstract: In 2 cases of hydrops fetalis and intrauterine death associated with human parvovirus B19 infection that produced very few symptoms during the second trimester of pregnancy, maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels were raised, before the ultrasonic detection of hydropic features. Fetal blood sampling in 1 case revealed the features of aplastic crisis. A retrospective study of 3 other affected and 11 unaffected cases of B19 infection during pregnancy showed a correlation between raised maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein level and poor prognosis for the affected pregnancies, with the subsequent development of hydrops fetalis.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004487:Edema / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins