Unusual aspects of acute Q fever-associated hepatitis.
We describe a 37-year-old farmer with a 3-week history of fevers and hepatitis, in whom Q fever was diagnosed. The diagnosis was based on the findings of characteristic "ring" granulomas on a bone marrow biopsy specimen and confirmed by complement-fixation antibody tests to Coxiella burnetii. Unusual aspects of this case included (1) relatively low complement-fixation antibody titers, (2) prolonged prothrombin time, (3) false-positive results of a serologic test for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and (4) ring granulomas that progressed to atypical granulomas in biopsy specimens.
Yale
S H
SH
Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
de Groen
P C
PC
Tooson
J D
JD
Kurtin
P J
PJ
D000328:Adult; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011778:Q Fever / Q000150:complications*