Route of infection determines the clinical manifestations of acute Q fever.
In Nova Scotia the main manifestation of acute Q fever is pneumonia, while in France it is granulomatous hepatitis. To test the hypothesis that the route of infection is the major determinant of the manifestations of acute Q fever, 10 groups of 10- to 12-g female BALB/c mice (4 animals/group) were used. Five groups were inoculated intraperitoneally (ip) and 5 intranasally (inl) with Coxiella burnetii. Both routes of infection resulted in pneumonia. However, the inl route resulted in greater airway changes (on a numeric scale with 0 being no changes): 2.05 +/- 2.20 versus 0.60 +/- 0.83 (P < .002). The ip route resulted only in hepatosplenomegaly. It was concluded that the route of infection is one determinant of the manifestations of acute Q fever.
Marrie
T J
TJ
Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
Stein
A
A
Janigan
D
D
Raoult
D
D
D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D019085:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct; D006520:Hepatitis, Animal / Q000382:microbiology; D006529:Hepatomegaly / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D010529:Peritoneal Cavity / Q000382:microbiology; D011778:Q Fever / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000382:microbiology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial