A blood test measuring levels of 2 different antibodies, to confirm a previous or current parvovirus B19 infection.
Biomarker table
Immunity
Parvovirus B19 IgM
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Parvovirus B19, also known as fifth disease or 'slapped cheek', is a virus mostly affecting children. It is highly infectious, and is transmitted through air droplets or via direct contact with an infected individual. Symptoms began with fever, diarrhoea and nausea, followed by a very red rash forming on the cheeks - slapped cheek. A rash, the most common symptom in adults, then breaks out all over the body. During pregnancy, a baby may rarely develop severe anemia caused by its mothers infection with fifth disease, and the woman may have a miscarriage. However this is not common, it happens less than 5% of the time among all pregnant women with parvovirus B19 infection, and it happens more commonly during the first half of pregnancy. When infected with Parvovirus B19, the immune system produces the antibody known as IgM initially, to help the body to destroy the virus.
Parvovirus B19 IgG
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Parvovirus B19, also known as fifth disease or 'slapped cheek', is a virus mostly affecting children. It is highly infectious, and is transmitted through air droplets or via direct contact with an infected individual. Symptoms began with fever, diarrhoea and nausea, followed by a very red rash forming on the cheeks - slapped cheek. A rash, the most common symptom in adults, then breaks out all over the body. During pregnancy, a baby may rarely develop severe anemia caused by its mother's infection with fifth disease, and the woman may have a miscarriage. However this is not common, it happens less than 5% of the time among all pregnant women with parvovirus B19 infection, and it happens more commonly during the first half of pregnancy. Several weeks after infection with Parvovirus B19, the immune system produces the antibody IgG to protect against being infected again in the future.
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