PARVOVIRUS B19 INFECTION IN BEHCETS-DISEASE

Objective. To investigate whether parvovirus B19 infection is associat ed with Behcet's disease (ED). Methods. Serum samples from 41 patients with ED and from 40 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. An EL ISA. assay was used to detect antibodies against parvovirus B19. Resul ts. Six patients with BD (15.7%) had anti-B19IgM antibodies in their s erum samples indicating a recent infection, while no positivity for Ig M antibodies was detected in the control group (p = 0.03). Conclusion. Although there have been several reports of B19 infection associated with vasculitis, our findings do not strongly support the involvement of B19 in the pathogenesis of BD. The serological evidence of acute in fection in 6 BD patients may be purely coincidental. There was also no positive correlation with the articular and vascular manifestations o f BD.