If your child comes home with ruddy cheeks this back-to-school season, their flushed appearance may be due to something other than having had recess in the late-summer heat. They may be infected with parvovirus B19, a disease spreading nationwide that causes a so-called “slapped cheek” rash in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week issued a health advisory on the seasonal respiratory virus, also called fifth disease or erythema infectiosum.
While the virus isn’t under routine surveillance like COVID-19 , the CDC warned the public of increasing viral activity in the U.S. on the heels of “unusually high numbers of cases” in Europe earlier this year .
Clinical specimens have yielded an increase in positive tests for parvovirus B19, the CDC said. In June, the proportion of people whose lab results indicated recent infection was 10%. By comparison, that proportion had been below 3% from 2022–24.
Children ages 5 to 9 showed the greatest increase, from 15% from 2022–24 to 40% this past June. The prevalence of parvovirus B19 in pooled plasma samples from an unspecified “large commercial laboratory” increased from 1.5% in December to 19.
9% in June, the CDC said. In addition, the agency has received reports of complications associated with the virus among pregnant people and those with sickle cell disease. Because minor parvovirus B19 outbreaks occur in the U.
S. every three to four years, per the CDC, it’s unclear whether the corona.