Parvovirus B19 infection in Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether parvovirus B19 infection is associated with Behçet's disease (BD).

METHODS

Serum samples from 41 patients with BD and from 40 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. An ELISA assay was used to detect antibodies against parvovirus B19.

RESULTS

Six patients with BD (15.7%) had anti-B19 IgM antibodies in their serum samples indicating a recent infection, while no positivity for IgM antibodies was detected in the control group (p = 0.03).

CONCLUSION

Although there have been several reports of B19 infection associated with vasculitis, our findings do not strongly support the involvement of B19 in the pathogenesis of BD. The serological evidence of acute infection in 6 BD patients may be purely coincidental. There was also no positive correlation with the articular and vascular manifestations of BD.