- Title
- Endemic Q fever in New South Wales, Australia: a case series (2005-2013)
- Creator
- Graves, Stephen R.; Islam, Aminul
- Relation
- American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Vol. 95, Issue 1, p. 55-59
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.15-0828
- Publisher
- American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Q fever is endemic in Australia, and during the period 2005-2013 our laboratory diagnosed 379 cases in New South Wales. To evaluate clinical symptoms, epidemiology, mode of diagnosis, antibody profiles, and treatment, a subset of 160 (42%) Q fever cases were analyzed in detail following the return of a questionnaire by the patient's doctor and from their laboratory reports. Overall, 82% patients were male and predominantly middle aged. The majority of patients (89%) had animal contact among which 63% were with cattle, 11% with sheep, and 7% with kangaroos. Clinical symptoms were nonspecific: myalgia (94%), fever (91%), headache (80%), acute fatigue (64%), and arthralgia (55%). Most cases (93%) were acute, and serology (immunofluorescence) was the main diagnostic modality. Positive real-time polymerase chain reaction results were useful in the diagnosis of both acute and chronic Q fever, as was the isolation of Coxiella burnetii in cell culture. Doxycycline was the antibiotic most commonly used.
- Subject
- Endemic Q fever; N.S.W.; epidemiology; clinical symptoms
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1339846
- Identifier
- uon:28352
- Identifier
- ISSN:0002-9637
- Language
- eng
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