Spontaneous recovery from severe parvovirus B19 pure red cell aplasia, in a heart transplant recipient, as demonstrated by marrow culture.

A 61-year-old heart transplant recipient with parvovirus B19 infection, presented as a severe pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) with hemoglobin level of 5 g/dl. Both blood and bone marrow cells were positive for parvovirus B19 DNA, whereas specific immunoglobulins IgG and IgM were not informative. Bone marrow smears revealed erythroid hypoplasia without giant pronormoblasts. Autologous and allogenic bone-marrow cultures revealed a high inhibition by patient's serum on BFU-E growth whereas the number of CFU-GM were normal. Spontaneous remission of the anemia was observed despite the persistence of severe immunodeficiency as demonstrated by development of a monoclonal EBV lymphoproliferative disorder two months later. The "recovery" serum reversed the initial serum BFU-E inhibiting property. This case pinpointed the usefulness of blood or marrow cultures in parvovirus B19 infection of immunocompromised patients without normal Ig responses, as in other PRCA. Further, it argues that the usual immunoglobulin therapy may not be necessary in order to obtain a viral clearance.