To determine the diagnostic use of different markers of acute parvovirus B19 infection, serum specimens obtained from 128 persons with erythema infectiosum were tested for specific immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgA, and IgM antibodies by capture enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell-expressed B19 antigen, and tested for circulating B19 DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A significant rise in specific IgG and IgA antibodies was detected in 87% and 77%, respectively, of persons from whom acute- and convalescent-phase serum specimens were available. Specific IgA antibodies were detected in single serum specimens from 90% of cases and were present in 22 (18%) of 120 persons from a control group without a history of recent exposure to B19. Specific IgM antibodies were detected in 97% of cases and one person (1%) from the control group. B19 DNA was detected in 94% of cases and was absent in 20 persons from the control group positive for both IgG and IgA antibodies. Serum specimens obtained between 4 and 6 months after onset of illness from six additional persons were also tested. All had specific IgG antibodies, four (67%) had IgA, five (83%) had IgM, and none had detectable B19 DNA. Our data indicate that 1) specific IgA antibodies are too persistent to be a useful indicator of recent B19 infection; 2) specific IgM antibodies are the most sensitive indicator of acute B19 infection in immunologically normal persons but can persist up to 6 months; and 3) B19 DNA can often be detected up to 2 months after onset of illness even in immunologically normal hosts and might be a useful adjunct test for diagnosis of acute B19 infection.
An outbreak of gastroenteritis lasting for one week in August 1980 affected approximately 1,500 persons in a community in northern Georgia. Investigation included a telephone survey of the community, a survey of textile plant employees and junior high and high school students and staff, and a neighborhood door-to-door survey. An association between gastrointestinal illness and consumption of drinking water was shown for community residents, students, and school staff. Attack rates (0-68%) determined in 10 neighborhoods increased significantly (P less than 0.001) with proximity to a textile plant, the site of one of two known cross-connections between an industrial water system (which contained fecal coliform bacteria) and the community water system. A fourfold rise in titer of antibody to Norwalk virus was found in 12 of 19 serum pairs from patients. Norwalk virus illness associated with drinking water from a large municipal water system has not been documented previously. Norwalk virus may be an important cause of waterborne morbidity in the United States.
Virus particles morphologically resembling adenovirus were found in fecal specimens from infants and were examined for cultivability with standard cell culture techniques and for characteristics of human adenoviruses. Specimens from 13 of 15 infants could not be cultivated in cell cultures. The two adenoviruses that were cultivated, types 1 and 31, reacted in the expected manner in all tests. Counterimmunoelectrophoresis with group-specific anti-hexon serum confirmed that the observed particles in the 15 specimens were human adenoviruses. The buoyant density in sucrose of five of the noncultivable adenoviruses in original stool suspensions averaged 1.335 g/cm3 and that of the two cultivable ones averaged 1.332 g/cm3; both groups had typical adenovirus morphology by electron microscopy. Treatment of the specimens and of a variety of tissue culture cells with proteolytic and other enzymes did not improve cultivability. Examination of partially purified virus by immunoelectron microscopy did not reveal evidence of immunoglobulin A, G, or M coating on the particles, an indication that coproantibody inhibition was not the cause of noncultivability. Fluorescent-antibody studies with an antihexon conjugate and counterimmunoelectrophoresis studies of serially passaged noncultivable viruses indicated that the viruses are infecting cells but are not undergoing effective replication. Antisera to three of the noncultivable viruses demonstrated homologous reactions in counterimmunoelectrophoresis with the respective immunizing antigens but showed only low levels of hemagglutination-inhibiting and neutralizing activity to a few of the known human adenoviruses. We concluded that the noncultivable viruses in these infant diarrhea cases were indeed human adenoviruses, were not defective particles, were not bound to coproantibody, were infectious but incapable of effective relication in conventional cell cultures, were serologically related to types 11, 17, 32, and 33, and should be considered a new, distinct subgroup.
Infection due to parvovirus B19 is common and usually resolves over several weeks. Prolonged infection has been reported primarily in immunodeficient hosts. The present report describes a chronic infection in an apparently immunologically healthy woman. The illness was characterized by recurrent episodes of paresthesia without anemia. Laboratory studies demonstrated persistence of parvovirus-specific DNA for nearly 4 years.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.