THE 1994 HUMAN PARVOVIRUS B19 EPIDEMIC IN DENMARK - DIAGNOSTIC AND EPIDEMIOLOGIC EXPERIENCE

In 1994 the first human parvovirus B19 (B19) epidemic to be documented in Denmark was recorded from February 2 to September 30. In total, 10 ,333 serum samples were tested for specific B19 IgM and IgG antibodies , using IDEIA(TM) Parvovirus B19 IgM and IgG kits. The prevalence of B 19 IgM positivity was 11% for the whole period and 29% at the peak of the epidemic in week 14, declining from week 39 and onwards to 1-3%. T he prevalence of B19 IgG (IgM-negative samples) was 60%, indicating an earlier infection, and the same for men and women. The gender distrib ution of tested patients was the same at the beginning of the epidemic as at the end of the epidemic and a year after its peak, i.e. 86% of samples were from women and only 14% from men. Age distribution for wo men was the same for the three periods (median age 34 years). For men the median age was 32 years, 39 years and 31 years, respectively. Only a few samples from children were tested. No change in test pattern wa s observed during the three periods. Approximately 75% of all samples tested were from women of childbearing age (18-45 years old), suggesti ng a fear of fetal complications in an actual or future pregnancy, rat her than a serological verification of clinical symptoms. From the spa rse clinical information that accompanied the serum sample we were not able to demonstrate that women were more likely than men to have a sy mptomatic B19 infection. With reservations we estimate that 14% of adv erse pregnancy outcome is correlated with a B19 infection.