Prevalence of parvovirus B19 in liver tissue: no association with fulminant hepatitis or hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia.
Parvovirus B19 has been proposed as the etiological agent of fulminant hepatitis (FH) or hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (HAA). We studied the prevalence of parvovirus B19 in liver-tissue samples from patients with FH and HAA and from control subjects. In the first study, parvovirus B19 DNA was detected by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 4 of 15 livers from patients with FH and in 3 of 22 livers from patients with nonviral hepatic disease. In a second confirmatory study, livers were tested for parvovirus B19 and its variant erythroviruses, V9 and A6. Tissues were also tested by reverse-transcriptase PCR for the presence of parvovirus B19 transcripts as a marker of viral replication. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of parvovirus B19 DNA in livers from patients with FH or HAA, compared with liver-tissue samples from patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection; parvovirus B19 transcripts were not detected. There was a significant increase (P<.1) in the prevalence of variant erythrovirus sequences in livers of patients with HBV or HCV hepatitis, the reason for which is currently unknown.
Virus Discovery Group, Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Susan
S
Wong
Neal S
NS
Young
Kevin E
KE
Brown
D000741:Anemia, Aplastic / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology; D016732:Parvovirus B19, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment
D004279:DNA, Viral