“…Additionally, B19 infection has been associated with a variety of autoimmune diseases, as the clinical features of a B19 infection are frequently very similar to those of autoimmune phenomena, especially antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), characterized by the occurrence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) (von Landenberg et al, 2003). For this reason, human parvovirus infections are often discussed as cause or trigger of various forms of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (Naides et al, 1990;Reid et al, 1985), juvenile idioblastic arthritis (Lehmann et al, 2002), autoimmune thrombopenia (Scheurlen et al, 2001) and systemic lupus erythematodes (SLE) Moore et al, 1999;Tovari et al, 2002).…”