Objective To explore the infection status and clinical characteristics of human parvovirus B19 (HPV-B19) in patients with hematological disease.

Methods A total of 94 patients with benign hematological disease, 128 patients with hematological malignancy, and 89 healthy individuals at Shanghai Eighth People’s Hospital from February 2019 to February 2020 were selected. The levels of specific IgM and nucleic acid of HPV-B19 in the plasma were detected using ELISA and PCR. The infection rates among the 3 groups and clinical characteristics between HPV-B19 positive and negative patients with hematological disease were compared.

Results The positive rate of HPV-B19 IgM was 9.6% (9/94), the positive rate of nucleic acid was 11.7% (11/94), and the overall infection rate of HPV-B19 (IgM and/or nucleic acid positive) was 14.9% (14/94) in benign group of patients. The positive rate of HPV-B19 IgM was 18.0% (23/128), the positive rate of nucleic acid was 19.5% (25/128), and the overall infection rate of HPV-B19 was 26.6% (34/128) in malignant group of patients. The positive rate of HPV-B19 IgM was 1.1% (1/89), the positive rate of nucleic acid was 2.2% (2/89), and the overall infection rate of HPV-B19 was 2.2% (2/89) in healthy controls. The overall HPV-B19 infection rate in benign group of patients was higher than that in healthy controls (P＝0.006). The overall HPV-B19 infection rate was higher in malignant group of patients than that in benign group of patients (P＝0.037) and healthy controls (P＜0.001). In the benign group, the HPV-B19 infection rates in patients with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA), autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and aplastic anemia (AA) were higher, with 44.4% (4/9), 27.3% (3/11), 25.0% (4/16), and 21.4% (3/14), respectively. In the malignant group, the HPV-B19 infection rates in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were higher, with 42.9% (9/21) and 37.5% (6/16), respectively. The HPV-B19 positive patients in both hematological disease groups were older (P＜0.05). In patients with NHL, CLL or multiple myeloma (MM), HPV-B19 infection decreased the reticulocyte ratio (P＜0.05); in patients with NHL, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), HPV-B19 infection prolonged bone marrow suppression time after chemotherapy (P＜0.05).

Conclusions HPV-B19 infection rate in patients with hematological disease is elevated and HPV-B19 infection may influence the condition and treatment efficiency of these patients.