Rheumatic manifestations of parvovirus B19 infection

Human parvovirus B19 is common and widespread, but our growing knowledge of its clinical importance makes it an emerging virus. Major manifestations of B19 infection are transient aplastic crisis, erythema infectiosum, hydrops fetalis, acute and chronic rheumatoid-like arthropathy, and in the immunocompromised host, chronic or recurrent bone marrow infection. B19 infection must be differentiated from early presentation of more classic erosive rheumatoid arthritis and, in some cases, SLE. Evidence for persistence of B19 infection suggests that human parvovirus B19 infection may serve as a model for the study of virus-host interactions and the role of viruses in the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases.