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.
Wong
Susan
S
Virus Discovery Group, Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Young
Neal S
NS
Brown
Kevin E
KE
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