title: Adult human parvovirus-B19 infection presenting with hearing difficulty and dizziness.
abstract: Human parvovirus B19 (HPV-B19), a small and non-enveloped DNA virus, causes erythema infectiosum (EI) in children. In adults, however, it is known to cause a variety of symptoms. A 39-year-old woman visited our hospital because of low-grade fever, diarrhea, bilateral leg edema, and numbness in the right arm, one and a half months after her daughter developed EI. We diagnosed her as HPV-B19 infection after her daughter's history and positive test for serum HPV-B19 IgM antibody, together with the continued observations. Two weeks later, she developed dizziness and left hearing difficulty. However, we did not give her any medication. HPV-B19 IgM antibody value (2.4) measured after one month of the onset was decreased to 1.7, 1.1, and 0.9 after two, three, and five months of the onset, respectively. Thus, it took 5 months for the IgM antibody value to become negative. Her symptoms gradually improved along with the decrease in HPV-B19 antibody without any medication. Hearing difficulty and dizziness are not categorized as manifestations of HPV-B19 infection, because these symptoms are very rare. The present report indicates that the symptoms related to inner ear dysfunctions should be added to those associated with adult HPV-B19 infection. In conclusion, we should consider HPV-B19 infection when we evaluate patients with causeless hearing difficulty and dizziness.
authors.affiliation: Division of Comprehensive Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan. nara@hosp.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nara
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shirata
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hongo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D004244:Dizziness / Q000209:etiology*; D016731:Erythema Infectiosum / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology*; D016732:Parvovirus B19, Human / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007075:Immunoglobulin M