Q fever: a contemporary case series from a Belgian hospital

Abstract

Objectives: Q fever is a global zoonosis that can cause both acute and chronic infections in humans through aerogenic transmission. Although Q fever was discovered already 80 years ago, this infectious disease remains largely unknown. We studied a case series in a Belgian tertiary care hospital.

Methods: A laboratory and file query at our department was performed to detect patients who were newly diagnosed with Q fever from 01 January 2005 to 01 October 2014.

Results: In total, 10 acute Q fever and 5 chronic Q fever infections were identified. An aspecific flu-like illness was the prevailing manifestation of acute Q fever, while this was infective endocarditis in chronic Q fever cases. Noteworthy are the high percentage of myocarditis cases in the acute setting and one case of amyloidosis as a manifestation of chronic Q fever. No evolution from acute to chronic Q fever was noted; overall outcome for both acute and chronic Q fever was favourable with a 94% survival rate.

Discussion: Q fever is an infectious disease characterised by a variable clinical presentation. Detection requires correct assessment of the clinical picture in combination with a laboratory confirmation. Treatment and follow-up are intended to avoid a negative outcome.

Keywords:

• Q fever
• Coxiella burnetii
• Zoonoses

Acknowledgements

M. Van Esbroeck, clinical biologist, laboratory director, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp