Q fever in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Although Q fever, a rickettsial disease caused by Coxiella burnetii, is supposed to occur sporadically worldwide, there is only one case report of this disease in Taiwan. We examined the antibody of Q fever to evaluate the status of Q fever in Taiwan.


METHODS
In total, 579 paired serum specimens of suspected febrile patients sent by several hospitals and sanitary stations to this Institute in 1991 and 1992 were tested according to the technique of indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA).


RESULTS
In total 48 serologically acute Q fever cases were found, mostly from Tainan, Pingtung and Kaohsiung. There was only one female, and the age of most patients was 40-50 years. The high season is in June and July.


CONCLUSIONS
The antibody titer of all 48 positive cases reached 1:320 or higher on the 13th day after onset of the disease. IFA as a diagnostic tool to detect acute and convalescent serum antibody titer is discussed.
Chen
H L
HL
National Institute of Preventive Medicine, Department of Health, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Chen
H Y
HY
Wu
Y C
YC
Horng
C B
CB
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011778:Q Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial