SEVERE SHWACHMAN-DIAMOND SYNDROME AND INVASIVE PARVOVIRUS B19 INFECTION

Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is the causative agent of infectious erythema. In healthy children the virus causes transient erythroid aplasia, wher eas in children with chronic hemolytic anemias it can cause severe apl astic crises, and in immunodeficient individuals it can produce chroni c red cell aplasia. If contracted during pregnancy, the Infection may induce serious damage to the fetus (abortion or hydrops fetalis). Shwa chman-Diamond (S-D) syndrome, a rare autosomal recessive condition, co nsists of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency plus neutropenia; many pat ients develop either anemia or thrombocytopenia or both. We describe a newborn baby with severe congenital bone marrow failure who was diagn osed with S-D syndrome and persistence of PVB19 virus contracted by th e mother in the third trimester of pregnancy.