Cases of parvovirus rising in the U.S., CDC says

Abby Parks had no idea what parvovirus was when she developed flu-like symptoms in late April and then felt crippling joint pain shortly after, not to mention a rash. Parks, 27, who teaches special education in Springfield, Illinois, said she learned she was about 18 weeks pregnant when she had been very sick with a fever for days; Covid and strep tests were negative. 
 
The school nurse, who had been treating students with “really rosy, red cheeks”, advised that Parks might be a victim of the same infection. 
 
“I got progressively sicker,” she said. “I was in bed with a fever and I had all symptoms for four or five full days. ” 
 
She went to the hospital to get blood test from her OB-GYN and the sample tested for parvovirus B19 by the first week of May when it was positive; this saw her transferred to a maternal fetal medicine specialist. It was later found that the virus had crossed to the fetus in utero. What is more, the fetus had anemia, a very dangerous and severe situation. They also transduced the fetus’s blood while still in the womb of the mother. 
 
There are more instances of parvovirus B19 — familiarly, more familiarly known as Fifth disease or “slapped cheek syndrome” — in the U. S. On Tuesday, the CDC sent out a warning to doctors to look out for signs of the highly contagious seasonal virus. 
 
According to the center for disease control, most of the infections are among children that are between the age of 5 and nine years. This flu type has been spreading through Europe since March at a record high, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports. 
 
The virus most adults were infected with as youngsters and they are still immune to it. But the CDC cautioned that pregnant individuals and those with sickle cell disease who have no prior exposure can get severe illness. 
 
Parks' doctor, Kathy Bligard, an OB-GYN at Washington University Hospital in St. Louis, said: “I also have had other patients, not only Abby, whose fetus also has required a blood transfusion for parvovirus in the last few months It is, of course, something that I never used to see except probably once every other year and I have to do it multiple times in the last few months. 
 
Bligard said that parvovirus is dangerous to pregnant women because it can go through the placenta during pregnancy and thereby infect the fetus and cause it to become anemic and die. 
 
Parks has recovered from the virus, but remains pregnant and the baby is still at risk at being prematurely born. 
 
Tuesday evening a ultrasound proved that a fetus was receiving inadequate blood from the placenta, and on Wednesday morning at a Springfield hospital, Parks was admitted to care for the baby. 
 
“I do think it was lifesaving for the fetus,” Parks said about the earlier transfusion, “Because if that anemia had persisted, with that low blood count, the baby could have died,” Parks said in an interview Wednesday from her hospital bed. 
 
Bligard said the virus tends to interfere with the ability of a fetus to produce new red blood cells. For instances, for the oxygen to be delivered to all of the critical bodily organs our body needs to have those red blood cells. But this can result in heart failure or even transition to death by having low blood counts. ” 

While the disease is predominant in children, if in one way or another an adult contracts the bacteria, the body responds with more intensive symptoms such as joint pains and anemia which originates from the inability to produce red blood cells, according to Dr. Vincent Iannelli, a pediatrician based in Dallas. Hypoproliferative anemia predisposes to pregnancies complications. 
 
Sufferers of sickle cell disease are also very vulnerable to the virus besides individuals with HIV/AIDS and those with lowered immune systems. 
 
“Looking at the last one and a half to two months, I actually believe we’ve been experiencing more cases,” Iannelli said. Normally, Iannelli would diagnose one patient with Fifth disease in a month, he said he has been diagnosing one to two patients weekly, adding that, the flu is prevalent during spring and summer. 
 
Fifth disease has some common signs, what are they? 
 
In children, Fifth disease is not dangerous — the only specific symptoms are fever accompanied by respiratory problems and rashes on the face and upper body, chest and limbs, with the rash being often itchy and distinguishing the illness by the name given to it, in that it is the fifth type of disease caused by parvoviruses. 
 
Again the rash is usually developed toward the middle or the end of the infection and although it lasts for only seven to ten nights it may take several weeks to heal completely. More importantly, it should be noted that people with Fifth disease are no longer infectious when the rash materialises. “Unfortunately, by the time you know your kid has it, they are not contagious anymore,” observed Iannelli. 
 
The rash is likely to worsen in heat and sunlight, but it does not make the infection to intensify, Iannelli said. 
 
Although symptoms of Fifth disease can be mild, pregnant women with joint pains or those who have problems producing red blood cells should see their physicians as quickly as possible, especially if they have been dealing with infected patients, the doctors said. 
 
Iannelli dismissed the increase in cases as not alarming at all. 
 
“Thank the Lord most pregnant women acquire it during childhood and therefore are not affected but now and again we end up seeing the odd adult,” he indicated. 
 
Lastly, “if you’re healthy, it’s a mild disease,” opined Iannelli, “if you have immune system problems or if you’re pregnant, early in pregnancy you should tell your doctor. ” But for everybody else it becomes just a rash. 
 
He said that the CDC alert was sent for doctors to be cautious and not as a reason for people to freak out. 
 
The disease is called Fifth disease in order to distinguish it from four other known diseases, although the actual cause of its naming as such is not well understood. 
Late in the 1900’s, doctors formulated the differential diagnosis of diseases with rashes in children in as a way of improving on their diagnosis. They identified six major rashes:They identified six major rashes: 
 
Measles – this is an easily transmittable virus that affects the skin producing rashes, high fever and some specific respiratory problems. 
 
Scarlet fever is an infection that is as a result of the group A streptococcus bacteria. 
 
Rubella – it is a viral disease also referred to as German Measles. In case of contact during pregnancy, the virus leads to miscarriage or still birth. The CDC suggests that children are administered with two doses of the mumps-measles-rubella vaccine. 
 
Although filatov-dukes is no longer viewed as a separate disease on its own. 
 
Parovovirus B19 infection also called fifth disease or erythema infectiosum. 
 
Others which include roseola, a viral infection formerly known as Sixth disease and which may present with fever and rash. 
 
These, together with other rashes, are diagnosed and treated differently today; the numbering system is only used for Fifth disease. 
 
At the hospital, Parks who is now 30 weeks pregnant is closely followed up on. She hopes that other pregnant women get to know about the virus and seek testing if they are likely to be infected. 
 
“It has been truly the most difficult experience to go through,” Parks said. “He was not by any means sure to come through the fetal anemia. ”