Co-infection of human parvovirus B19 with Plasmodium falciparum contributes to malaria disease severity in Gabonese patients.
BACKGROUND
High seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 (B19V) coinfection with Plasmodium falciparum has been previously reported. However, the impact of B19V-infection on the clinical course of malaria is still elusive. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and clinical significance of B19V co-infection in Gabonese children with malaria.


METHODS
B19V prevalence was analyzed in serum samples of 197 Gabonese children with P. falciparum malaria and 85 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and direct DNA-sequencing.


RESULTS
B19V was detected in 29/282 (10.28%) of Gabonese children. B19V was observed more frequently in P. falciparum malaria patients (14.21%) in comparison to healthy individuals (1.17%) (P<0.001). Notably, the mild-malaria group revealed significantly lower hematocrit levels in B19V/P. falciparum co-infection than in P. falciparum mono-infection (P<0.05). Genetic analysis revealed a predominance of B19V genotype-1 (71.43%) in the studied population. However, B19V-genotype 2 was observed significantly more often in children with severe-malaria than in mild-malaria (P=0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings reveal that B19V-infection is frequent in Gabonese children with P. falciparum malaria and signifies a possible contribution of B19V on the clinical course of malaria in a genotype-dependent manner. B19V co-infection should be considered as a additional diagnostic measure in malaria patients with life threatening anemia.
Department of Molecular Pathology, Institute of Pathology and Neuropathology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Nguyen L
NL
Toan
Bui T
BT
Sy
Le H
le H
Song
Hoang V
HV
Luong
Nguyen T
NT
Binh
Vu Q
VQ
Binh
Reinhard
R
Kandolf
Thirumalaisamy P
TP
Velavan
Peter G
PG
Kremsner
C-Thomas
CT
Bock
D000740:Anemia / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D002675:Child, Preschool; D060085:Coinfection / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005681:Gabon; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D016732:Parvovirus B19, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019562:Viral Load
D000914:Antibodies, Viral