Detection of human parvovirus B19 in serum samples from children under 5 years of age with rash–fever illnesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

BackgroundIt has been demonstrated that infection with human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is associated with rash–fever illnesses. The present study aimed to investigate B19V as an aetiological agent of rash–fever syndromes in Congolese children confirmed as measles and rubella IgM-negative. An ELISA IgM test and PCR were performed to screen for B19V.MethodsA total of 177 archived serum samples were randomly selected from the measles biobank of the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB). Samples were investigated for anti-B19V IgM and B19V DNA. These samples originated from children <5 years of age with measles-like rashes, previously confirmed as negative for both measles and rubella IgM.ResultsOut of 177 serum samples tested by ELISA and 168 tested by PCR, 109 were positive for B19V IgM antibodies (61.6%) and 87 (51.8%) were positive for B19V DNA. Positive samples in both assays were from all provinces of DRC.ConclusionsB19V plays a role in rash–fever illnesses in children under 5 years of age suspected of having measles or rubella infections in DRC. As an aetiological cause of rash and fever syndromes, the present study demonstrates that B19V should also be considered during the laboratory investigation of rash–fever illnesses in DRC, particularly in the paediatric population. There is a need to conduct further studies in order to gain a better understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern of B19V and to define the genotype(s) of B19V circulating in DRC.

Molecular detection of human Parvovirus B19 in serum samples collected from 1998–2011 in Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil

“…In addition, there are many asymptomatic cases or cases with nonspecific manifestations that are easily confused with dengue and other agents [15], resulting in underreporting. These clinical findings are similar to those observed in our patients, as well as those in other studies carried out in Amazonas and other regions [16,17,18].…”

Viral etiology of measles‐like rash in Guinean children during the COVID epidemic in 2022

“…For differential diagnosis with similar diseases such as infection with Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6; 166 bp), Parvovirus B19 (107 bp) or chickenpox infection, DNA was extracted from the samples using a commercial kit (NucleoSpin ® Dx Virus) and verified by PCR as described. [10][11][12] Statistical analysis was performed using Prism v10.11 (GraphPad Software).…”

“…Given the period of the Covid‐19 epidemic, all samples were also tested by real time RT‐rPCR for SARS‐CoV2 using commercial kits (Hunan Runmei Gene Technology Co. or Sansure Biotech Inc.). For differential diagnosis with similar diseases such as infection with Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV‐6; 166 bp), Parvovirus B19 (107 bp) or chickenpox infection, DNA was extracted from the samples using a commercial kit (NucleoSpin®Dx Virus) and verified by PCR as described 10‐12 …”

Viruses associated with measles-like illnesses in Uganda

“… 1 MLI is known to be caused by multiple viral agents including parvovirus B19, rubella virus, human herpesviruses, adenoviruses and enteroviruses in other regions. 2 , 3 , 4 Viruses of high consequence including the viral hemorrhagic fever viruses, Ebola virus and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) may also present with fever and rash and have been detected as localized outbreaks in Uganda. 5 , 6 In this study, we aimed to identify viruses present in the sera of individuals with MLI using unbiased M-NGS from patients that had tested negative for measles IgM, to use as the basis of recommendations on widening diagnostic assays specific to Uganda.…”