ABSTRACT
The aplastic crisis is an acute self-limited erythropoietic arrest. The aplastic crisis is a self-limited cessation of predominantly erythropoietic activity associated with a dramatic fall in hemoglobin level and an absence of reticulocytes from the peripheral blood. The aplastic crisis in sickle cell (SS) disease in Jamaica affects predominantly children. Human parvovirus (B19) virus infection is the cause of erythema infectiosum and volunteer studies identified two forms of skin involvement following experimental infection. Approximately 90% of cases occur before the age of 15 years, although cases attributable to B19 virus infection have been observed as late as 38 years. The frequency with which B19 virus infection occurs without manifestations of aplasia can only be ascertained by a longitudinal serological study identifying the point of seroconversion in each child and volunteer studies are currently underway. Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) levels also change during the aplastic crisis in SS disease. The aplastic crisis in SS disease in Jamaica affects predominantly children.
