Persistent parvovirus b19 infection resulting in carpal tunnel syndrome
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy
- Professor Monica Musiani, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Division of Microbiology, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy; monica.musiani{at}unibo.it
- Accepted 12 March 2007
- Published Online First 5 April 2007
A woman showing chronic arthropathy after a parvovirus B19 infection was followed for 1 year with quantitative determination of parvoviral DNA, and specific immunoglobulin (Ig)M and IgG in blood. B19 arthopathy resulted in carpal tunnel syndrome, needing surgery, after 8 months of persistent B19 viraemia, when IgM was already cleared but IgG values were still high.
Case history
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral compression neuropathy, but many aspects of its aetiology are not at all clear. CTS is often termed as idiopathic but it has also been attributed to a variety of underlying disorders and processes, and sometimes CTS has been reported as secondary to infectious diseases of bacterial, mycotic and viral origin, including parvovirus B19. Parvovirus B19 in humans can cause acute infections but also persistent infections with continuous virus production both in immunocompetent and in immunosuppressed individuals.1 Parvovirus B19 is generally associated with erythema infectiosum, arthritis …
