Chronic parvovirus infection and G6PD deficiency masquerading as Diamond-Blackfan anemia

Bone marrow aplasia due to parvovirus B19 infections is usually mild and self-limited. In patients with hereditary or acquired hemolytic anemias, B19 infection can cause a severe and life-threatening anemia due to the shortened half-life of red cells, but here, too, the transient nature of the infection soon remits the symptoms. Chronic infections with parvovirus are more characteristically associated with immunodeficiency states. We report here a case of B19-induced anemia in a patient with G6PD deficiency and hypogammaglobulinemia which was mislabeled as Diamond-Blackfan anemia until the use of modern laboratory techniques allowed a correct diagnosis to be made.