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Slapped cheek syndrome

Parvovirus B19 is a virus that only affects humans. The symptoms of infection varies from a very minor illness, possibly with headache, mild fever and sore throat to erythema infectiosum, which produces a typical rash that appears on the cheeks, hence its name Slapped Cheek Syndrome. The condition is also sometimes called Slap Cheek or Fifth Disease, being the fifth cause of common rash-associated diseases of childhood to be identified.

It is thought that 60% of all adults in the UK have been infected with Parvovirus at some point, usually between the ages of six and ten years old. An increase in the number of infections occurs every 3-4 years, largely in schoolchildren.

One infection is thought to confer lifelong immunity.

Although the virus can affect animals (canine parvovirus and feline panleukopenia virus), B19 is the only known human form. The virus cannot pass from human to animal or vice-versa.

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