infectious diseases

Fifth Disease in a nutshell

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Fifth disease	Contagious viral pathology, typical of school-age children: it is an erythematous form with an acute course, triggered by parvovirus B19. It is reputed to be the fifth disease that affects children during childhood.
Synonyms of the fifth disease	Infectious erythema and epidemic megaloeritema, most commonly slapped cheek disease
Fifth disease: incidence index	Spread of the fifth disease : worldwide Period of greatest diffusion : at the beginning of spring and during the late winter Target : it mainly affects children aged between 5 and 15 years
Fifth disease: symptoms	Onset symptoms : low-grade fever, non-pruritic erythema, headache, flu, rhinitis, joint pain and redness in the cheeks (more swollen and painful) Evolution of the fifth disease: spread of the exanthem at the level of the trunk, upper and lower limbs Less frequent symptoms : oral enantema (pinkish spots on the palate and pharyngeal mucosa) and occipital or latero-cervical adenopathies
Healing from the fifth disease	Regression of the disease almost always spontaneous 65% of affected patients: completely heals in 5-8 days 35% are generally three weeks for complete symptom healing
Risk of contagion of the fifth disease	Start before the onset of symptoms, starting from the moment of incubation (until the appearance of the first rashes)
Duration of the incubation phase	The incubation phase of the virus can last up to two weeks, during which the subject has no cutaneous prodrome
Joint pain in adults and children	Adult: the joint pains generated by the fifth disease seem to occur more frequently and under various clinical forms: acute, chronic and arthritic arthritis accompanied or not by chronic fatigue Child: arthromialgic forms prevail; more rare are acute or chronic oligo-articulars and arthrosynovitis
Fifth disease: complications	Almost nil complications in the vast majority of patients with the fifth disease. In some patients (eg affected by autoimmune hemolytic anemia, myeloid leukemia etc.) the fifth disease can degenerate into acute hemolytic anemia, leukopenia, decrease in red blood cells and disappearance of reticulocytes
Fifth disease: diagnosis	Differential diagnosis with measles, rubella, fourth disease and scarlet fever Physical examination Blood tests
Fifth disease: therapies	Generally no therapy is needed Antihistamines (in case of itching) antipyretics, useful in case of fever
Fifth disease: prevention	During the illness it is advisable to avoid exposure to solar radiation, responsible for a possible aggravation of skin symptoms
Fifth disease and pregnancy	Parvovirus b19 could cause serious problems to the fetus: often the virus is lethal for the unborn child