Abstract

Objective: To determine anti-B19V IgM seroprevalence among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients and patients with other blood genotypes. Methods: In this study, a commercially available ELISA kit (Parvovirus B19 RIDASCREEN Biopharma, Germany) was used to analyze 93 serum samples, comprising 68 SCD patients and 25 control samples from individuals with other blood genotypes aged between 1 and 35 years. Results: Anti-B19V IgM was detected in 10 (~15%) samples of the SCD patients, in which amongst the SC, 1 (25%) positive was recorded, CC had 2 (~67%) positive cases and SS had 7 (~11%) positives. Among the study control group, a 16% seropositivity was observed, in which among those with genotype AA, 1 (20%) was positive, for those with AS, 1 (~7%) positive was recorded, for AC, 3 (50%) were positive. The age range of 11–20 years showed a positivity of 3 (~4%), those of 21–30 years showed 12 (~24%) positivity and both 1–10 years and > 30 years had no positive case recorded. Conclusions: This study showed that B19V is a significant blood borne pathogen in our environment and concerted effort is needed to advance strategies to curb this infection and diminish the common severe complications usually associated with this virus infection among SCD patients.

Authors and Affiliations