Prevalence of parvovirus B19 in liver tissue: no association with fulminant hepatitis or hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia.

Parvovirus B19 has been proposed as the etiological agent of fulminant hepatitis (FH) or hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (HAA). We studied the prevalence of parvovirus B19 in liver-tissue samples from patients with FH and HAA and from control subjects. In the first study, parvovirus B19 DNA was detected by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 4 of 15 livers from patients with FH and in 3 of 22 livers from patients with nonviral hepatic disease. In a second confirmatory study, livers were tested for parvovirus B19 and its variant erythroviruses, V9 and A6. Tissues were also tested by reverse-transcriptase PCR for the presence of parvovirus B19 transcripts as a marker of viral replication. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of parvovirus B19 DNA in livers from patients with FH or HAA, compared with liver-tissue samples from patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection; parvovirus B19 transcripts were not detected. There was a significant increase (P<.1) in the prevalence of variant erythrovirus sequences in livers of patients with HBV or HCV hepatitis, the reason for which is currently unknown.