Prevalence of human parvovirus B19 DNA in cardiac tissues of patients with congenital heart diseases indicated by nested PCR and in situ hybridization.

Background: Infection with parvovirus B19 (B19) was reported to be correlated with myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, and kawasaki disease. But no information is available about the relationship between inutero B19 infection and congenital heart disease (CHD).

Objective: To explore whether there is relationship between B19 infection and CHD.

Study Design: Retrospective investigation of biopsy samples from CHD patients from January 1996 to December 1998.

Methods: Parvovirus B19 was detected in biopsy samples from 42 cases of CHD patients and 38 cases of biopsy or autopsy samples from patients with other diseases (controls) by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH) technique. HE staining was also performed to observe the morphology of these cardiac tissue samples.

Results: Nested PCR assay indicated that seven of 42 (16.7%) CHD cardiac tissue were B19 DNA positive, while all the 38 controls were B19 DNA negative, the difference is significant (P = 0.012). ISH assay indicated that five of 42 (11.7%) CHD cardiac tissues were positive for B19 DNA and none of the control cardiac tissue were positive, all B19 DNA positive signals were located in the nucleuses of cardiac cells. HE staining showed that there was no inflammatory change in B19 DNA positive cardiac tissue.

Conclusions: Parvovirus B19 DNA was presented in part of CHD cardiac tissues and located in nucleus, which suggested that inutero B19 infection might be correlated with CHD.