Parvovirus B19: the causative agent of dilated cardiomyopathy or a harmless passenger of the human myocard?
Parvovirus B19 infections may cause a widespread benign and self-limiting disease in children and adults known as erythema infectiosum (fifth disease). Several further manifestations are associated with B19 infections, such as arthralgias, arthritis, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia, anaemia and vasculitis and spontaneous abortion and hydrops fetalis in pregnant women. Persistent infections with continuous virus production may occur in immunocompetent as well as in immunosuppressed individuals. Parvovirus B19 infections have been frequently implicated as a cause or trigger of various forms of autoimmune diseases affecting joints, connective tissue and large and small vessels. Autoimmune neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and haemolytic anaemia are known as sequelae of B19 infections. The molecular basis of the autoimmune phenomena is unclear. Many patients with these long-lasting symptoms are not capable of eliminating the virus or controlling its propagation. Furthermore, latent viral genomes have been detected in cells of various organs and tissues by PCR. At present, it is not clear if these cells produce viral proteins and/or infectious B19 particles, if the virus genome can be reactivated to productive replication and if the presence of viral DNA indicates a causative role of parvovirus B19 with distinct diseases.
Modrow
S
S
Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Universität Regensburg, Germany. susanne.modrow@klinik.uni-regensburg.de
D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000209:etiology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016732:Parvovirus B19, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious