Human serum parvovirus as the cause of aplastic crisis in sickle cell disease
J. F. Kelleher Jr, N. L. Luban, B. J. Cohen and P. P. Mortimer
An infectious agent has long been suspected as the cause of aplastic crisis
in sickle cell disease, but no specific organism has been implicated. We
studied six children with sickle cell disease in whom an aplastic crisis
developed, looking for evidence of parvoviruslike virus (SPLV) infection
using a new radioimmunoassay. All six patients had conclusive evidence of
acute infection with SPLV. We postulated that SPLV is the predominant cause
of aplastic crises in patients with hemolytic anemia.
