Prevalence of human Parvovirus (B19) in COVID-19 patients

Background: Parvovirus B19 is a non-enveloped virus characterized by its icosahedral structure and single-stranded DNA. It is mainly transmitted through blood or blood products, organ transplant, and from mother to fetus. Aim: Prevalence of Human Parvovirus in COVID-19 Patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study, included 180 participants (60 with β-thalassemia, 60 with viral hepatitis, and 60 with cancer). These groups also divided into two groups, infected with COVID-19 or not, as well as vaccinated or not group against COVID-19. All of these subgroups were detected for human parvovirus (B19) Ag in their specimens using ELISA technique. Results: The current study demonstrates, COVID-19-positive patients among the three groups were 58 out of 180 participants (32.22%). Accordingly, results presented that 10.7% of human parvovirus B19 patients were not infected with COVID-19, whereas 5.2% were infected with COVID-19. The highest positive cases of B19 were detected in COVID-19 negative cases within the thalassemia group, with a number of 7 (12.1%) and 6 (10.7%) cases among COVID-19-negative cases. Also, it was indicated that the number of COVID-19-vaccinated individuals was 29 out of 180 participants (16.11%). Accordingly, it was presented that the highest number of patients positive for B19 virus was detected in the non-vaccinated individual in the β-thalassemia group of patients 7 (11.9%), whereas 4 (8.7%) and 2 (4.3%) were detected positively with B19 virus in non-vaccinated group of hepatitis patients and cancer group respectively. Conclusion: The results also noted a non-significant difference in the distribution of virus infection according to COVID-19 infection or vaccination.