Parvovirus B19, often referred to as the B19 virus, is a seasonal respiratory viral illness that is transmitted through respiratory secretions from an infected individual’s sneezes or coughs, their blood or blood products, or through vertical transmission from a pregnant woman to her baby.
Common symptoms include joint pain in adults and slapped cheek rash in kids. In persons with weakened immune systems and blood disorders, infection can lead to a low blood count. The disease may also heighten the risk of miscarriage early in pregnancy.
Earlier in August, the CDC issued an advisory on the increase in cases of the disease after it received reports of positive lab tests and complications related to the illness.
Now three separate studies have noted increased B19 virus infections in commercial laboratories in the United States. In one of the studies, investigators explored the increase in B19 test positivity from levels recorded during the 2018/19 respiratory illness seasons.
They focused on identifying immunoglobulin M antibodies, which are markers of an infection, in clinical specimens obtained from 359,445 kids and adults. This is in addition to carrying out nucleic acid amplification tests in plasma from over 1000 donor pools monthly.
They found that by spring 2024, the percentage of immunoglobulin M-positive specimens had risen to 9.9%, a significant increase from the 2018 and 2019 peaks of 3.8% and 5.1%. The prevalence of the virus in nucleic acid amplification tests also increased to 20%, a substantial surge from the peaks of 2018 and 2019 of 6.7% and 7.3%.
In their report, the researchers explained that increased positivity of the B19 virus in both healthy plasma donors and clinical specimens indicated higher community transmission. This, they posited, could be because of reduced B19 transmission during the coronavirus pandemic because of measures imposed to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 which, in turn, resulted in more individuals becoming susceptible to B19.
The second study recorded five cases in pregnant women in the state of Minnesota, with researchers revealing that one patient had a miscarriage at twenty weeks while some fetuses developed severe anemia.
The third study revealed that the infection has been observed in teens and kids with sickle cell anemia in Georgia. The researchers involved emphasized the need to monitor children with sickle cell and B19 for complications, noting that early red blood cell transfusion could prevent severe outcomes.
Overall, the researchers involved in all studies encourage healthcare providers to promote measures preventing infection while remaining hypervigilant for evidence of severe swelling or signs of decreased fetal movement when caring for pregnant individuals, as this could be linked to B19.
As more infectious diseases emerge and re-emerge, there is a growing need for companies like Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI) to ramp up their R&D programs so that viable immune therapies targeting many of these infectious diseases can be readily available to the vulnerable populations that need these treatments.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SCNI
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