Does Parvovirus B19 or Human Bocavirus DNA persist in the heart of patients without dilated cardiomyopathy or myocarditis?
Parvovirus B19 DNA can persist lifelong in the heart without causing clinical symptoms in patients without cardiomyopathy or myocarditis.
Our data suggest that B19V but not HBoV demonstrates a lifelong persistence in the heart. The detection of B19V DNA in heart tissue showed no correlation with clinical symptoms. We strongly recommend that serological testing become a standardized procedure for future studies, to obtain representative data concerning the prevalence of B19V in the heart.
Kuethe et al. (Wed,) studied this question.