Q fever

Background

• Described in 1937: occupational disease of abattoir workers (manage animals before and after slaughtering process) and dairy farmers
• Caused by Coxiella burnetii
• Obligate intracellular bacteria morphologically similar to Rickettsia
• Reservoirs include cattle, goat, sheep, and ticks (Dermacentor andersoni)
• CDC: category B biologic warfare agent due to its inhaled infectivity
• Worldwide disease

Differential Diagnosis

Fever in traveler

• Normal causes of acute fever!
• Malaria
• Dengue
• Leptospirosis
• Typhoid fever
• Typhus
• Viral hemorrhagic fevers
  • Ebola virus disease
  • Marburg virus disease
  • Lassa fever
  • Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
• Chikungunya
• Yellow fever
• Rift valley fever
• Q fever
• Amebiasis
• Zika virus