[Epidemiological, clinical, and diagnostic analysis of an outbreak of Parvovirus B19 infection in Mallorca Island].

INTRODUCTION

An observational study is presented on a community outbreak of parvovirus B19 (PVB19) infection that occurred between January and July 2024 in Mallorca.

METHODS

PVB19 infection was diagnosed by serology (IgM) and specific PCR.

RESULTS

A total of 151 patients were diagnosed. Of these, 63 (41.7%) were <15 years old. The age groups with the highest number of cases were 5-10 years (19.8%) and 30-45 years (33.7%). Overall, 33.1% were male and 66.9% female, with age-related differences; among adults, 81.9% were female. The most frequent pathologies in the child population were fever, rash and petechiae, while in adults, fever and arthralgia predominated. Among the women, 8 were pregnant (11.1%) and 4 had fetal involvement. In addition to serum, PVB19 was detected in 10 pharyngeal swabs, 6 skin swabs, 3 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples, and 1 amniotic fluid sample. Specific IgM was detected in 98.4% of cases, along with cross-reactions with Epstein-Barr virus (69.5%) and mumps virus (42.8%), mainly in adults. In 6 cases, positive IgM was detected to PVB19, Epstein-Barr virus and mumps were simultaneously detected (4 adults and 2 children). PCR was positive in 95.4% of all samples and in 94.6% of serum samples.

CONCLUSIONS

The specific diagnosis of PVB19 infection should be based not only on clinical findings but also on serological detection (IgM) and genomic detection (PCR).