title: Exposure of hematologic patients to parvovirus B19 as a contaminant of blood cell preparations and blood products.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with hematologic malignancies often require blood products, and parvovirus B19 is known to be transmitted by this route. Primary infection with parvovirus B19 shows a wide variety of disease manifestation. In immunocompromised patients, symptoms are severe and viral clearance is delayed or missing.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2123 blood products given to all patients of a hematologic ward over a period of 6 months were retrospectively examined for the presence of parvovirus B19 DNA by an in-house real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR; TaqMan). Patients who had received B19 DNA-positive blood products were further investigated serologically and by PCR for the presence of parvovirus B19 antibodies and DNA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one (1%) of 2123 blood products tested positive for the presence of B19 DNA (2% of pooled products, 0.7% of single-donor products, and 17.6% of allogeneic peripheral blood progenitor cells), the median viral load was 700 genome equivalents per mL. During the study period, 114 patients were treated on the ward, and 14 (12%) of them received B19 DNA-positive blood components. None of them developed symptoms of an acute B19 infection, although one had a short low-level viremia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although B19 DNA was detected in 1 percent of blood products given to hematologic patients, the exposure of 12 percent of patients did not result in symptomatic infections.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene and the Department of Haematology and Oncology, University of Regensburg, Germany. annelie.plentz@klinik.uni-regensburg.de
authors.forename: Annelie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plentz
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knöll
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holler
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jilg
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Modrow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000821:virology; D016913:Blood Component Transfusion / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D016732:Parvovirus B19, Human / Q000235:genetics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral