Transient pancytopenia associated with parvovirus infection in a healthy child

Human parvovirus (HPV) B19 infection has been reported to be a cause of transient erythroblastopenia in patients with hemolytic disorders (aplastic crisis). Human parvovirus B19 is directly cytotoxic for erythroid progenitor cells and inhibits erythropoiesis. Infrequently, HPV B19 inhibits hematopoiesis of three cell lineages and causes transient pancytopenia in patients with hemolytic disorders. In experimental infections with normal volunteers, reticulocytes and platelet counts in the peripheral blood decreased 10-14 days after intranasal inoculation, and these hematological abnormalities recovered spontaneously within a few weeks. We report a boy without any underlying disease who developed transient pancytopenia. A HPV B19 infection was confirmed by serological studies and DNA analysis as the causative infectious agent associated with severe pancytopenia.