Outbreak of Aplastic Crises in Sickle Cell Anaemia Associated With Parvovirus-Like Agent

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Since 1952, 112 children with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) in Jamaica have had an aplastic crisis. Outbreaks occurred in 1956, 1960, 1065-67, 1971-73, and 1979-80. Most cases occurred in children under 10 years of age, and an aplastic crisis in a patient over the age of 15 years is rare. There were 38 cases in 1979-80 and stored serum specimens from 28 of these were available for virus studies. Evidence for infection with a parvovirus-like agent was found in 24 of these 28 cases. Viral antigen was detected in 2 patients, both of whom demonstrated seroconversion. Seroconversion during 1980 was detected in a further 7, increasing amounts of antibody during the convalescent period were found in 5, antibody was found in 2 of 4 patients from whom only an acute phase specimen was available and the remaining 10 were antibody positive in the only convalescent phase sample available for testing. Antibody was found in 4 of 94 controls with the SS genotype (in retrospect 2 of these may have had an aplastic crisis) and in 17% of 48 controls with a normal haemoglobin (AA) genotype. The results accord with the possibility that the parvovirus-like agent is the principal cause of aplastic crisis in SCA.