Fatal parvoviral myocarditis: a case report and review of literature.
BACKGROUND
Histologically documented cases of parvoviral myocarditis are exceedingly rare.


METHODS
Here, we report a 41-year old African American immunocompetent patient who died of parvoviral myocarditis after a 10 day illness characterized by fever, headaches, generalized arthralgias, and a maculopapular rash.Autopsy revealed an infiltrate myocarditis composed primarily of T-lymphocytes and macrophages associated with extensive myocardial fibrosis. The diagnosis of parvovirus was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on both pre-mortem serum and post-mortem myocardial tissue


METHODS
DNA was extracted from tissue and serum and primers were used to amplify DNA sequences of parvovirus B19 using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR).


CONCLUSIONS
The diagnosis of parvovirus should be considered in cases of fatal myocarditis, and diagnosis can be confirmed at autopsy by molecular techniques.
Tavora
Fabio
F
Department of Pathology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA. ftavora@gmail.com
Gonzalez-Cuyar
Luis F
LF
Dalal
Jay S
JS
O'Malley
Michael T
MT
Zhao
Richard
R
Peng
Hong Q
HQ
Burke
Allen P
AP