Q fever. A call to heighten our index of suspicion.
The prevalence of Q fever infection is probably underestimated. In Michigan, the first two reported human cases of Q fever occurred in 1984. The case-patients lived in adjacent, rural counties and had multiple exposures to goats. We conducted a serosurvey of goat owners and a reference population to compare the prevalence of Q fever antibodies in the two-county area. Goat owners were almost three times more likely to be seropositive with Q fever antibodies than the reference population (43% vs 15%). Among goat owners, individual and household seropositivity prevalences were positively correlated with the number of goats, the number of positive goats, and the number of goat births on the farm. Q fever should be considered more often in the differential diagnosis of patients with compatible illness, especially those with frequent animal contact.
Sienko
D G
DG
Michigan Department of Public Health, Center for Health Promotion, Lansing 48909.
Bartlett
P C
PC
McGee
H B
HB
Wentworth
B B
BB
Herndon
J L
JL
Hall
W N
WN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D003381:Coxiella / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan; D008875:Middle Aged; D011778:Q Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission; D012424:Rural Population
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial