detection of human parvovirus b19 markers in blood samples of donors

background and aims: human parvovirus b19, a member of the parvoviridae family, with single-stranded dna is a very minute non-enveloped virus. b 19 virus is mostly transmitted via the respiratory tract but some studies have been reported which b19 virus can be transmitted through blood and/or blood products. the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of b19 among blood donors in tehran. methods: in this cross-sectional study, the collection of samples was performed in tehran blood transfusion center for a period of 6 months, from march 2005 through august 2006. sera of 1640 blood donors who were negative for human immunodeficiency virus ( hiv), hepatitis b surface antigen (hbs ag) and hepatitis c virus (hcv) were tested for immunoglobulin g (igg) and immunoglobulin m (igm) anti-b19 using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). then, all of the sera were tested for presence of b19 dna through semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (pcr). results: out of 1640 blood donors, 8 (0.5%) subjects had igm antibody thereby being reported positive 676 subjects (41.2%,) confidential intervals (cis 95%= 42.7-50) were positive for anti-b19 igg. b19 dna was not found in any of the subjects (0%). conclusion: the result of this study showed that none of the blood donors had detectable parvovirus b19 dna. this means that there was a very low risk of transmission of parvovirus b19 through blood or blood derived products. it is recommended that more blood samples to be studied specially in high risk groups.