Abstract
BackgroundAcute Q fever usually presents as a nonspecific febrile illness, and its occurrence is rapidly increasing in South Korea. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of acute Q fever patients in South Korea and the time from symptom onset to serologic diagnosis. The clinical courses were examined according to antibiotic treatment.MethodsData of patients diagnosed with acute Q fever at Chungbuk National University Hospital between January 2015 and February 2018 were retrospectively collected. Demographic and epidemiologic data were reviewed. The time from symptom onset to serologic diagnosis by an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) was analyzed. Clinical courses and the percentage of patients with a high phase I immunoglobulin G titer (≥ 1:1024) were compared between patients administered antibiotics with anti-Coxiella burnetii activity and patients not administered such antibiotics.ResultsForty-eight patients (median age: 51.5 years) were included. Most were male (95.8%) and had no history of animal contact (91.7%). The median time from illness onset to serologic diagnosis was 21 days. Thirty-nine patients received antibiotics with anti-C. burnetii activity. The length of hospital stay and fever duration did not significantly differ between patients who received antibiotics with anti-C. burnetii activity (7 and 15 days) and those who did not (5 and 8 days) (P = 0.110 and P = 0.137, respectively). The percentage of patients with a high phase I immunoglobulin G titer (≥ 1:1024) did not significantly differ between patients who received antibiotics with anti-C. burnetii activity and those who did not (P = 0.340).ConclusionsMost acute Q fever patients had a nonspecific febrile illness with mild elevation of transaminases and no history of animal contact or occupational risk. The time from symptom onset to a positive IFA test was longer than the fever duration in most acute Q fever patients. Consequently, it may be difficult for clinicians to serologically diagnose acute Q fever. However, inappropriate antibiotic treatment was not associated with prolongation of symptoms or progression to chronic Q fever.
Highlights
Acute Q fever usually presents as a nonspecific febrile illness, and its occurrence is rapidly increasing in South Korea
The majority of acute Q fever patients were previously healthy adults who lived in rural areas and lacked any known risk factors or underlying comorbidities
The median age of patients was 51.5 years, and the majority of patients were previously healthy men who lived in rural areas and had no history of animal contact or occupational risk
Summary
Acute Q fever usually presents as a nonspecific febrile illness, and its occurrence is rapidly increasing in South Korea. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of acute Q fever patients in South Korea and the time from symptom onset to serologic diagnosis. Human acute Q fever, a zoonosis caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii, presents as various clinical manifestations such as self-limited febrile illness, pneumonia, endocarditis, vascular infections, hepatitis, osteomyelitis, and meningoencephalitis [1]. It is not clear that which factors are associated with the high incidence of human Q fever in Chungcheong area of South Korea. It was suggested that increasing number of raised goats in this region may have a major effect on the high incidence of Q fever [4]. The seroprevalence of C. burnetii is 1.5% in healthy people and 10.2% in slaughterhouse workers [10, 11]
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