RESUMEN
The aim of this study was to establish the serological prevalence of anti-human Parvovirus B19 (HP-B19) antibodies in a group of 321 patients attending a Centre for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and epidemiologically examine whether this virus may also be sexually transmitted. For this purpose, the serum prevalence of anti-HP-B19 evaluated in STD patients (39%) was compared with that of 164 healthy blood donors (10%, p < 0.001), using commercially available ELISA methods detecting the anti-VP1 reactivity of the sera. The same STD patients were also analyzed for serum reactivities against 4 STD-causing microorganisms, namely T. pallidum (TPHA), HBV (HBcAb), HCV (HCV-Ab) and HIV (HIV-Ab), to observe possible associations with the serum anti-HP-B19 reactivity. These tests were also carried out with commercially available kits. The results suggest that the serum anti-HP-B19 antibody prevalence in patients with STDs is increased, also independently of their intravenous drug addition and varies with the reactivity pattern determined. In addition, as expected for a STD, the anti-HP-B19 prevalence is increased in homobisexual patients compared with heterosexuals.
Asunto(s)
Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , Infecciones por Parvoviridae/complicaciones , Infecciones por Parvoviridae/epidemiología , Parvovirus B19 Humano/inmunología , Enfermedades de Transmisión Sexual/complicaciones , Adolescente , Adulto , Bisexualidad , Donantes de Sangre , Femenino , Homosexualidad , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Ciudad de Roma/epidemiología , Estudios Seroepidemiológicos , Conducta SexualRESUMEN
The aim of our work was to determine the sero-prevalence of antibodies to B. burgdorferi in 300 patients living in Calabria, a region of southern Italy. The research of antibodies to B. burgdorferi was conducted by ELISA as a screening method and Western Blot as a confirmatory test. Out of the 300 patients we found a rate of positivity of 7.3% with ELISA and 4.5% with Western Blot. This data allows us to classify Calabria, among the regions where Lyme borreliosis is non-endemic and where sero-epidemiological research has been carried out on patients, as having a degree of positivity second to that of Campania (9.1%) and higher than Lombardy (3.2%) and Umbria (2.8%). Considering all the demographic and clinical data, only that of the higher IgG positivity of males over females is statistically significant.