Seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 antibody in HIV-positive asymptomatic persons

Objective: Parvovirus B19 is an important cause of chronic anemia in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. Extensive seroprevalence studies for parvovirus B19 in HIV-positive individuals have not been carried out in the United States. The authors compared the seroprevalence for parvovirus B19 among patients with asymptomatic HIV infection and healthy blood donors. Methods: The seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to VP-1, a parvovirus B19 structural protein, was determined using an indirect enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and a Western blot assay in 72 HIV- positive adults without prior opportunistic infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related malignancy and results were compared to those of 134 healthy blood donors. Results: There was a significantly higher seroprevalence for parvovirus B19 in HIV-positive subjects (57/72, 79%) than in the controls (58/134, 43%) (P < 0.001). Analysis by indirect EIA of the HIV-positive subjects 1 year later showed no significant change in seropositivity (48/70, 69%). For HIV-positive subjects, B19 seropositivity was not significantly related to age, sex, or CD4 count, but the parvovirus index did correlate with the total IgG level at both time points (P = 0.014 at the first estimation and P = 0.045 1 year later). Western blot analysis of IgG antibody to the VP-1 protein showed that 49 of 71 (69%) of the HIV- positive subjects were positive at the beginning of the study, and 50 of 71 (70%) were positive 1 year later. Conclusions: These results suggest an increased seropositivity to parvovirus B19 among HIV-positive individuals compared to healthy controls.