An aplastic crisis occurs when the bone marrow shuts down temporarily due to the continual stimulus for production of erythrocytes. During this time, a severe anemia may be present due to the shortened life span of the RBCs.
Infections that sickle cell patients experience may also arrest RBC production and produce a pancytopenia. Parvovirus B19 is the most common causative infectious agent of aplastic crisis in SCD.
