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Persistent parvovirus infection could flag immune deficiency
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Persistent parvovirus infection could be a marker of humoral immune deficiency, according to results of a case study published online.
Sarah T.M. Adams, MD, of the department of pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, and colleagues recently reported on a 6-year-old patient who had been losing weight for 6 months, with fever for 1 month and polyarticular arthritis.
“Parvovirus DNA was detected in plasma at 10,300 copies/mL,” the researchers wrote. “Levels of immunoglobulin G, IgA, IgM, IgG-1 and IgG-2 were low, and antibody responses to vaccine antigens were impaired.”
This information, combined with test results for other primary and secondary immune deficiencies that were negative, led researchers to a diagnosis of common variable immunodeficiency (CVID).
The boy was started on immune globulin IV, and after 3 months, parvovirus levels began to decline. A year and a half later, parvovirus levels were undetectable.
The researchers said they are “unaware of other reports of persistent parvovirus infection leading to a diagnosis of CVID. In our case … the clinical and virologic response to [immune globulin IV], which contains antibodies to parvovirus, supports a role for humoral immune deficiency in predisposing to persistent parvovirus infection.”
The finding of persistent parvovirus infection “should prompt consideration of a workup for CVID,” Gary S. Marshall, MD, a researcher on the study, told Infectious Diseases in Children.
The researchers reported that the patient eventually developed eosinophilic fasciitis.
For more information:
Gary S. Marshall, MD, can be reached at gary.marshall@louisville.edu.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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