Parvovirus B19 and Pregnant Women: A Bibliographic Review

Review Article

J Fam Med. 2021; 8(9): 1277.

Parvovirus B19 and Pregnant Women: A Bibliographic Review

Bouraddane M1*, Warda K1 and Zouhair S1,2

¹Laboratory of Bacteriology-Virology of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Marrakech (FMPM), Morocco

²Bacteriology-Virology Laboratory of the Avicenne Military Hospital in Marrakech (HMA), Morocco

*Corresponding author: Bouraddane Majda, Laboratory of Bacteriology-Virology of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Marrakech (FMPM), Morocco

Received: September 29, 2021; Accepted: November 01, 2021; Published: November 08, 2021

Introduction

Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is one of the smallest viruses that are known to infect humans [1]. The clinical manifestations of B19V infection vary greatly and depend on age, hematologic and immunologic status. In immunocompetent individuals, the infection can be completely asymptomatic or can cause mild and self-limiting clinical manifestations such as erythema infectiosum or fifth disease during childhood, arthralgias and arthritis in adults, particularly in women [2,3], chronic hemolytic anemia, and fetal death in utero or non-immune hydrops fetalis in pregnant women [4]. Due to the efficient replication of B19V in the erythroid progenitor cells [5].

In temperate climates, the infection may occur throughout the year, Infection is most common in late winter or early spring [6]. During pregnancy, the virus is transmitted through exposure to infected respiratory droplets or blood products and vertically from mother to fetus [7,8]. The vertical transmission of B19 occurs in about one-third of women infected [9].The proportion of pregnant women susceptible to B19 infection ranges from 34% to 65% in various parts of the world. The incidence of seroconversion during pregnancy is estimated at between 1% and 1, 5% in the endemic period, increasing to 13% in the epidemic period [10]. Non-immune women are most likely to be infected by young children [11].

Parvovirus infection of mothers is diagnosed using serologic or an immune assay enzyme B19 IgM and B19 IgG [12]. Viral DNA can be detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and is considered to be the best indicator of infection in maternal, fetal blood, and amniotic fluid [13].

In these conditions, it seemed necessary to us to study this virus in this article and to answer the various practical questions raised by the occurrence of contagion and/or infection with Parvovirus B19 during pregnancy.

Parvovirus B19: A Few Words of History

Parvovirus B19 particles were first described in 1975 by Cossart, an Australian virologist working in London [1]. While checking normal blood donor’s serum in an assay for hepatitis B she noticed an anomalous reaction in position 19 plate B [14]. This virus was successively called SPLV (Serum Parvovirus like Virus), Aurilac antigen (in France), Nakatani antigen (in Japan), then B19, number of the blood bag where it was isolated for the first time. This explains the name of the virus when there is no parvovirus B1 to B18.The pathogenic role of the virus was first identified in 1981 during erythroblastopenia attacks in patients with sickle cell disease. In 1983, it was recognized as the cause of erythema infectiosum or the 5th pediatric disease [15]. Subsequently, PVB19 infections have been linked to fetoplacental hydrops, Fetal Deaths in Utero (MFIU) secondary to fetal anemia or myocardial involvement [16].

Virology and Pathophysiology of B19V Infection

B19 virus: Virology

Taxonomy: Parvoviruses are common animal and insect pathogens. The Parvoviridae family is divided into two sub-groups:the Parvovirinae infecting vertebrate cells, and the Densoviridaeinfecting invertebrate cells (Table 1) [17]. The Parvovirinae are further subdivided into three groups: