I suppose that I could get it in the US but the cost would probably be greater than what it is here; especially when factoring the travel, accommodation, specialist cost, hospitalization, procedure costs. I only have the government medical insurance here because the private ones refused me extended coverage since the 80's. Once refused, always refused in the insurance business.

the diagnosis came about after I had a mini stroke a couple of weeks back. The doc spotted skin irritation over my wrists and on my elbows and thought that it looked more like a rash than a reaction to the Diclofenac cream that I've been putting on those joints for inflammation control. He thought that it looked like some sort of an infection.

he ordered a repeat on some blood work and it suggested that I had some sort of an infection, so he then ordered blood tests for a bunch of things like systemic fungus & hepatitis, but also included viruses...everything from Lyme's to Parvo. The Parvo came back positive.

Those results came in a couple of days ago, so his office called me and said that my doc wanted some more blood work done. I had that done yesterday and those results came in today showing high white blood cell counts and high platelets; so the blood work is still indicating an infection. At least the immune system is trying to deal with it.

Problem is, that it may be going about it incorrectly (aberrant immune reaction), which is affecting the joints and possibly neurological and cardio-vascular systems as well.

Figures. Sometimes I wish this body would just catch a normal cold or something once in while instead of doing this sort of a freak show seemingly every time an otherwise common virus comes along.

With love, Erika

How do you "catch" Parvo?

It is spread just like the common cold; by droplet, or by direct contact with an infected surface. I'm really careful about hand washing and things like that but I suppose I must have slipped up somewhere along the line. Probably some patient's kid had it and they brought the virus into the clinic when I was still working. It is also possible that I may have been working with a patient who had developed joint problems because of it.

I asked my doc if I was contagious now and he said he didn't think so, because the contagious phase only lasts for a few days. He did say that I might be contagious from time to time when symptoms are severe, because that might indicate a resurgence of infection .

When kids get it (the most common age to get it is under 8 years old), they develop mild flu-like symptoms for a few days, then develop a rash. People are generally only contagious for the few days before the rash develops, but adults often don't develop the flu-like symptoms or the rash; so it is pretty hard to avoid an adult who might have it. Adults tend to get the joint symptoms, although not to the degree that my body has.

I don't recall having either the flu or the rash when this all started, although I did feel like I had caught some sort of a bug for a few days about a month ago. That may have been a resurgence of this virus, but my doc thinks that I've had it for longer than that. The joint stuff started in October, so I probably caught it around then.

With love, Erika

Lord have mercy Erika....

Could you have caught it from your new
Kitty, or from the dog trainer place?

I hope it goes away on it's own and soon.
Extra prayers for you are on the way.

Look into Hizentra, www.hizentra.com . It's a new sub q IG. I am in the process of getting that set up instead of IVIG.

The med would be more expensive in the US. Mine costs $6000 every dose, which occurs every 3 wks.

Good luck!

Thanks 4-eyes,

I'm wondering if your IVIG is for MS?
That would be great if it did something to help with those symptoms as well .

Sally,
This is the Human Parvo and only affects humans. The dog one only affects canines, so no I could not have gotten it from any animal.

With love, Erika

I think that the cost is also related to the dose used. My body is small & thin; and I think that the doc said that each dose would be 2g/kg. I weigh 50kg/110 lbs, so each dose would be 100g.
There don't seem to be any price quotes per gram available, but I expect that because of my body size, the cost would be on the lower end of the estimated cost range.

Not knowing how many I may need to have is what I am concerned about.

With love, Erika