Human serum “parvovirus”: A specific cause of aplastic crisis in children with hereditary spherocytosis

Characterization of the Genome of the Agent of Erythrocyte Aplasia Permits its Classification as a Human Parvovirus

“…Following this description sporadic cases of infection were reported in association with febrile illness Shneerson et al, 1980) but the nature of this agent and its pathological significance in man remained obscure. With the identification of a defined syndrome of serious clinical illness attributable to infection with this virus Serjeant et al, 1981) interest has been revived; it is now clear that in patients with chronic haemolytic anaemias, infection with this agent results in a transient interruption in the production of erythrocytes, leading to a profound but self-limiting anaemia (Anderson et al, 1982a;Duncan et al, 1983;Kelleher et al, 1983;Rao et al, 1983), the so-called 'aplastic crisis'. This pattern of pathological changes affecting the rapidly dividing cells of the erythrocyte series is reminiscent of the changes seen in rapidly dividing tissues of other species infected with animal parvoviruses, such as leukopenia and enteritis in cats and dogs, and foetal death and abnormality in pigs.…”

Biochemical Characterization of a Human Parvovirus

“…Subsequent studies have associated this virus with febrile illness (Shneerson et al, 1980), the aplastic crisis of sickle cell disease and hereditary spherocytosis (Serjeant et al, 1981;Kelleher et al, 1983), and most recently with erythema infectiosum (fifth disease) of childhood (Anderson et al, 1983).…”

“…For these reasons it was decided to investigate the proteins and nucleic acid of the virus by in vitro radiolabelling techniques which do not depend on tissue culture-grown virus. The serum and plasma samples containing parvovirus antigen used in this study were those of the Virus Reference Laboratory collection: B 19 (Cossart et al, 1975), JB (Kelleher et al, 1983), Wi, Pr, Br I, Br II and were supplied by Dr B. J. Cohen. All six samples were analysed by CsCI banding, but only Wi and Br II were used for further DNA and protein analyses.…”

Transient parvovirus‐associated hypoplasia of multiple peripheral blood cell lines in children with chronic hemolytic anemia

“…Patients who have chronic hemolytic anemia, such as HS, classically develop transient red cell aplasia during parvovirus infection (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). In this series of hospitalized patients with aplastic crisis, however, only 23% (4 of 17) had isolated anemia.…”

“…However, in patients who have a chronic hemolytic anemia, which shortens red blood cell survival, the erythroblastopenia and reticulocytopenia may result in a dramatic decrease in hemoglobin concentration [3][4][5]. This episode of transient and often severe anemia is called the aplastic crisis.…”