Which supervision and treatment to use in case of exposure to Parvovirus B19 during pregnancy?

Fifty percent of young women are not immunized against Parvovirus B19 and may be infected during their pregnancy. Because of the scarcity of the foetal complications, the behaviour to be held in case of Parvovirus B19 exposure is badly known. In this view, we realized a review of the literature to answer the questions put by Parvovirus B19 during pregnancy, in particular in case of maternal exposure. About 33% of Parvovirus B19 infections of the pregnant women are complicated by foetal contamination. This foetal infection does not always result in foetal complications. The foetal complications are more frequent before 20 weeks of gestation (11 to 15% of spontaneous abortion and foetal death, 3% of foetal hydrops). After 20 weeks of gestation, it remains 1% of foetal hydrops. Without treatment, they may sometimes lead to foetal death. In the case of Parvovirus B19 exposure, it is advisable to control the maternal serology to know its initial status. According to the result, a weekly ultrasonographic supervision will be proposed to detect foetal anaemia (ascites, pericardial effusion). In the case of foetal hydrops, an in utero transfusion reduce the risk of foetal loss. The long-term outcome of infected foetuses is mostly good. Authors describe a survival without after-effect in 90% of the cases. More ample studies are necessary to evaluate long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of hydropic foetuses.