Parvovirus B19: A Different Kind of Pathogen

Blood transfusions besides lives. Thither is no other way to put it. There is no other way to var. its importance. Without this service there would be no other way to save those who be victims of gunshot wounds, accidents that resulted in major blood loss, surgeries that require transfusion and many much medical procedures that require the availability of safe blood.As mentioned earliest blood banks have reached a level of sophistication that give the axe go over safe blood processing, sterilisation, storage and finally transfusion. In information form in the 12th International Convocation on Immunology one arouse see that in the 20th century it is al some im likely to risk infected blood such as those having HIV, Hepatitis B and C viruses in blood banks (C.J. van Oss, 1995).Yet, in the same convention, the delegates had to agree that there are still pathogens that could not be eliminated victimization conventional methods. And one of those pathogens is called parvo B19, which is also known as human parvovirus. It is therefore important to screen for the presence of parvo B19 in donated blood. The importance of which will be seen after as introduction of the virus to at risk patients can be fatal.Parvovirus B19According to Broliden, Tolfvenstam, & Norbeck (2006) B19 is thought to exclusively infect humans, and shows a pronounced tropism for erythroid precursors.Moreover, they added that with regards to infection shows a seasonal variation in temperature climates, being much common during the winter and early spring B19 is normally transmitted by dint of the respiratory route, but can also be transmitted vertically from the mother to the foetus, through BM and organ tranplantations, and via transfused blood products (Broliden, Tolfvenstam, & Norbeck, 2006).A more technical description of the virus can be found in Murphy and Pamphilons work and the authors made the following remarks concerning the human parvovirusThe parvoviruses are one o f the smallest DNA viruses that infect humans. They are very horse barn non-enveloped viruses that are resistant to many chemical and physical inactivation techniques. Parvovirus B19 is the only definite member of the genus erythrovirus the virus replicates in erythroid primogenitor cells (1995).In the world of Pediatrics, Katie Barnes elevatedlights the following attributes of the virus1. Parvovirus B19 (human parvovirus) is the causative agent for erythema infectiosum or fifth disease so named because it was the fifth disease to be expound with similar blossominges like measles, rubella, scarlet fever and roscola.2. It appears commonly as an erythermatous, macular, papular rash in a patient that otherwise is a febrile and well appearing.3. Due to the ever-present nature of the virus, community outbreaks are common. Infection is possible throughout the year.4. Infection can result in transient aplastic crisis (TAC) among children with transmittable haemolytic anemia like si ckle cell disease, spherocytosis and thalassaemia or marked immunosuppression.5. B19 infection among pregnant women has been linked to fetal infection and ensuant pregnancy loss and spontaneous abortion.6. B19 infection is widespread and occurs worldwide. School-aged children are most frequently affected and highest incidence can be found among children amid 5 to 15 years of age (2003).In addition to the above here is another facet of the virus that informs on those who are at high risk when infected with B19 it does interfere with red cell production in the marrow and a recipient with a compensated haemolytic anaemia whitethorn have a very abrupt and dangerous spillway in haemoglobin when exposed to this virus. An immunologically impaired recipient of the virus may be unable to eliminate the virus, and severe chronic anaemia may result (C.J. van Oss, 1995).DetectionDetecting the presence of B19 virus in donated blood would not be an easy task. As describe earlier the human parv ovirus is one of the smallest DNA viruses ever found (Murphy & Pamphilon, 1995).Peterlana et al (2006) describe some of the expectard assays that was used for detecting the presence of B191. Dot smudge Hybridization this uses cloned viral DNA and was found to be sensitive to 104 viral particles.2. Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology2.1 Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) more sensitive than Dot daub Hybridization assay because it could detect 100 fg viral DNA (gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining and 10 fg viral DNA (hybridization).2.2 nested-PCR a m fold improvement in sensitivity as compared to PCR2.3 real-time PCR this is a fluorescence-based assay, which combines amplification and detection in a closed system and can produce quantitative results in a very short time. real-time PCR has been reported to be more sensitive than conventional PCR.Schneider et al., (2005) do stand by the result of real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction procedure. This was carried ou t using a LightCycler a Parvovirus B19 Quantification Kit from Roche Diagnostics.A similar approach was described by Koppelman and Cuypers that would soon be standard European practice, testing with a quantitative PV-B19 NAT (nucleic acid amplification technology) assay (2002).