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Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1998 Jun;57(6):375–377. doi: 10.1136/ard.57.6.375

Low frequency of recent parvovirus infection in a population-based cohort of patients with early inflammatory polyarthritis

B Harrison 1, A Silman 1, E Barrett 1, D Symmons 1
PMCID: PMC1752621  PMID: 9771214

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To determine the contribution of human parvovirus B19 infection in explaining the incidence of early inflammatory polyarthritis (IP) in a population.
SETTING—The Norfolk Arthritis Register (NOAR) is a community-based programme aiming to ascertain all new cases of IP arising in a population that lead to attendance at primary care.
SUBJECTS—147 newly ascertained subjects with IP with a disease duration of less than 16 weeks.
METHODS—Full clinical appraisal of all subjects who were followed up for three years. B19 IgM assayed with a third generation antibody capture enzyme immunoassay.
RESULTS—Only four (2.7%) patients had evidence of recent B19 infection, only one of whom did not satisfy criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
CONCLUSION—B19 infection does not explain more than a small proportion of either RA or undifferentiated IP cases occurring in the population.

 Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis; epidemiology; human parvovirus B19

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