Significance of viruses in maternal-child morbidity
Mena Castro, E.
Archivos Dominicanos de Pediatria 26(1): 1
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-0606 PMID: 12291425 Document Number: 380983
In developing countries infectious diseases continue to be the primary cause of morbidity in children and they are also responsible for an increasing number of untimely deaths. Viral, bacterial, mycotic, and parasitic agents are responsible for various pathological conditions that are present in the most vulnerable groups of the population. Poverty, crowding, lack of access to potable water, low level of education, and inadequate disposition of excreta provide an ideal environment for infectious agents. During human history viruses have represented an important group of disease-producing agents, both in mothers and children. The teratogenic, immunogenic, and oncogenic capabilities of many viruses has been established, and every so often new activities and characteristics of these agents are identified in relation to epidemiology, physiology, and pathogenics. An interesting work concerning parvovirus B19 by Drs. Mateo and Polanco was published in the Archivos Dominicanos de Pediatria. This virus appears to be responsible for infectious erythema and particularly for the medullar aplasia crisis observed in many chronic hemolytic anemias. For the Dominican Republic this discovery is of interest because of the relatively high prevalence of falciform anemia; this disease most often occurs as hereditary anemia, and the medullar aplasia crisis is one of the forms of expression of this disease.