[Seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 in patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura].

Although there are several studies indicating the relationship between parvovirus B19 (PV-B19) and acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) which is a form seen frequently in children, the data are not enough in terms of chronic ITP, which is a more insidious form frequently seen in adults. The aim of this study was to investigate PV-B19 seroprevalence in adult chronic ITP cases diagnosed at the haematology clinics of Atatürk University Research Hospital in Erzurum (located in eastern Anatolia, Turkey). A total of 61 patients (38 female, 23 male; mean age: 34.4 +/- 11.2 years) and 60 healthy control subjects (30 female, 30 male; mean age: 35.6 +/- 9.6 years) were included to the study. All possible etiological agents and factors other than PV-B19 were eliminated on the basis of clinical and laboratory findings. PV-B19 antibodies were screened by ELISA method, and 73.7% (45/61) of the patients were found IgG, whereas 3.2% (2/61) were found IgM seropositive. In the control group, these rates were detected as 38.3% (23/60) and 1.6% (1/60), respectively. IgG antibodies were negative in the two patients and one control who were positive for IgM. The presence of PV-B19 DNA was investigated in all of the three IgM positive subjects, and was found positive in only one patient by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The difference between patient and control groups with regard to IgG seropositivity was found statistically significant (p < 0.01), however statistical evaluation could not be performed for IgM seropositivity because of the low number of cases. As a result although the rate of IgG positivity was found statistically higher in the ITP patients in our study, this data is inefficient for the evaluation of relationship between PV-B19 and chronic ITP, indicating the need for further studies.