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Q fever

Q fever is a zoonosis caused by the strictly intracellular, gram negative bacterium Coxiella burnetii which proceeds asymptomatic and self-limiting in 60% of the cases. The infectious organism is commonly found in cattle, sheep, goats and other domestic mammals. more...

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The infection results from inhalation of contaminated particles of the inhaled air. The incubation time is 9-40 days. It is considered possibly the most infectious disease in the world, as a human being can be infected by a single bacterium.

History

It was first described by Edward Holbroock Derrick in abattoir workers in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia as a disease of unknown origin and therefore “query fever”. In 1937 the bacterium was isolated by Frank MacFarlane Burnet and Freeman from one of Derrick’s patients for the first time and identified as Rickettsia-species. H.R. Cox and Davis isolated the pathogen from ticks in Montana, USA in 1938, described the transmission and it was officially named Coxiella burnetii the same year. Meanwhile Coxiella burnetii is no longer regarded as closely related to Rickettsiae.

Manifestations

The most common manifestation is flu-like symptoms with abrupt onset of fever, malaise, severe headache, myalgia (muscle pain), loss of appetite, dry cough, pleuritic pain, chills, confusion and gastro-intestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. The fever lasts approximately 7-14 days.

During the course, the disease can progress to an atypical pneumonia, which often results in a life threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), whereby such symptoms usually occur during the first 4-5 days of infection.

Less often the Q fever causes (granulomatous) hepatitis which becomes symptomatic with malaise, fever, liver enlargement (hepatomegaly), pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen and jaundice (icterus).

The chronic form of the Q fever is virtually identical with the inflammation of the inner lining of the heart (endocarditis), which can occur after months or decades following the infection. It is usually deadly if untreated. However, with appropriate treatment this lethality is around 10%.

Appearance and incidence

The pathogenic agent is to be found everywhere except Antarctica and New Zealand. In Europe it rather appears as hepatitis and rather as pneumonia in the United States. The bacterium is extremely sustainable and infectious: a single one is able to cause an infection. The common way of infection is inhalation of contaminated dust, contact with contaminated milk, meat, wool and particularly birthing products. Ticks can transfer the pathogenic agent to other animals. Transfer between humans seems extremely rare and has so far been described in very few cases.

Men are slightly more often affected than women, what most likely is attributed to exposition in typical professions such as livestock breeding, dairy and meat production. A vaccination exists and its use is recommended to exposed people in some countries.

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Granulomatous lymphadenitis as a manifestation of Q fever - Letters
From Emerging Infectious Diseases, 1/1/03 by Pierre Tattevin

To the Editor: Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by the obligate intracellular pathogen Coxiella burnetii (1). Human infection is usually the result of exposure to infected cattle, sheep or goats. Acute Q fever may be asymptomatic or manifest as a self-limiting febrile illness, pneumonia, hepatitis, or meningoencephalitis. Most cases of acute Q fever will resolve without sequelae, but endocarditis, granulomatous hepatitis, osteomyelitis, and endovascular infections are well-documented manifestations of chronic C. burnetii infection (1). Recently, various atypical manifestations of acute (2), and chronic (3) Q fever have been reported as well as changing clinical presentation of Q fever endocarditis (4) and changing epidemiology of Q fever (5). Researchers have suggested that heightened awareness of Q fever among doctors, coupled with improved diagnostic methods, could increase the medical knowledge about this difficult-to-diagnose and difficult-to-treat infection (4). We report two cases of granulomatous lymphadenitis associated with C. burnetii infection.

A 70-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of weight loss, night sweats, and a continuous high-grade fever of 2 months' duration. His past medical history was unremarkable, except for pulmonary tuberculosis treated 55 years earlier and chronic glaucoma. He lived in a rural area and had rare contact with cattle. On admission, his body temperature was 39.5[degrees]C; his right laterocervical lymph nodes were enlarged (3 cm x 4 cm) and inflamed. Blood values were unremarkable except for an elevated C-reactive protein level of 150 mg/L (normal<6). A computed tomography scan of the chest showed hilar calcifications and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. A biopsy of cervical lymph nodes indicated granulomatous lymphadenitis with foci of necrosis. C. burnetii DNA was detected on the lymph nodes with a C. burnetii-specific pair of primers that amplified an htpAB-associated repetitive element (6). Results of serologic testing by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) were positive for C. burnetii with immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody titer to phase 1 and phase 2 antigen of 800 and 1,600, respectively, and IgM antibody titer to phase 2 antigen of 50.

A 44-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of a continuous low-grade fever of 3 months' duration. He had worked as a farmer for 15 years and assisted in the birth of sheep and cattle. On admission, his body temperature was 38[degrees]C, and right inguinal lymph nodes were inflamed, measuring 4 x 4 cm. A lymph node biopsy showed granulomatous lymphadenitis with stellate abscesses surrounded by palisading epithelioid cells. Serologic testing by indirect IF was positive for C. burnetii with an IgG antibody titer to phase 1 antigen of 320.

For both patients, results of Ziehl staining and Lowenstein (Bio-Rad, Marne-La-Coquette, France) cultures of gastric aspirates (x 3) and lymph node specimens were negative for mycobaceria, as were the results of tuberculin skin tests. Other diseases were ruled out, including brucellosis, yersiniosis, bartonellosis, and chlamydial infections (by serologic testing) and fungal infections (parasitologic studies on lymph node tissue). Antinuclear antibodies were absent, and angiotensin-converting-enzyme values were normal. Both patients received doxycycline, 200 mg once a day, and rifampin, 600 mg twice a day, for 1 year, and the symptoms resolved (follow-up at 18 months for patient 1 and 9 months for patient 2, respectively). For patient 1, serologic testing after 1 year of treatment showed an IgG antibody titer to phase 1 antigen of 320.

Granulomatous lymphadenitis has been described during mycobacterial infections, tularemia, cat scratch disease, yersiniosis, lymphogranuloma venereum, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, and chronic granulomatous diseases (7). One well-documented case of acute Q fever with necrotic cervical lymphadenitis has been recently reported (8); to our knowledge, granulomatous lymphadenitis has never been reported during Q fever. In both cases reported here, C. burnetii was the likely etiologic agent, given the results of polymerase chain reaction and serologic studies (patient 1) or the patient's occupation and results of the serologic testing (patient 2). Moreover, for both, no other potential cause could be identified, and the response to doxycyclinerifampin regimen was favorable. We suggest that granulomatous lymphadenitis be added to the list of atypical presentations of Q fever.

References

(1.) Raoult D, Marrie T. Q fever. Clin Infect Dis 1995;20:489-95.

(2.) Fournier PE, Etienne J, Harle JR, Habib G, Raoult D. Myocarditis, a rare but severe manifestation of Q fever: report of 8 cases and review of the literature. Clin Infect Dis 2001;32:1440-7.

(3.) Hatchette TF, Marrie TJ. Atypical manifestations of chronic Q fever. Clin Infect Dis 2001;33:1347-51.

(4.) Houpikian P, Habib G, Mesana T, Raoult D. Changing clinical presentation of Q fever endocarditis. Clin Infect Dis 2002;34:E28-31.

(5.) Hellenbrand W, Breuer T, Petersen L. Changing epidemiology of Q fever in Germany, 1947-1999. Emerg Infect Dis 2001;7:789-96.

(6.) Fournier PE, Marrie TJ, Raoult D. Diagnosis of Q fever. J Clin Microbiol 1998;36:1823-34.

(7.) Swartz MN. Lymphadenitis and lymphangitis. In: Mandell GL, Douglas JE, Bennett R, editors. Principles and practice of infectious diseases. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone; 2000. p. 1066-75.

(8.) Ariga T, Nagaoka H, Miyanoshita A, Kusunoki Y, Watanabe T, Shinohara T, et al. Coxiella burnetii lymphadenitis: a possible fever focus in acute Q fever. Pediatr Int 2000;42:711-4.

Address for correspondence: Pierre Tattevin, Clinique des Maladies Infectieuses, CHU Pontchaillou, 35033 Rennes Cedex, France; fax: 00 33 2 99282452; e-mail: pierre.tattevin@ chu-rennes.fr

Pierre Tattevin, * Cedric Arvieux, * Mathieu Dupont, * Pascal Guggenbuhl, ([dagger]) Alexandre Lemeur, ([dagger]) and Christian Michelet *

* Hopital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France; and ([dagger]) Hopital Sud, Rennes, France

COPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group

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