Q fever pneumonia in children in Japan.
The prevalence of Q fever pneumonia among children with atypical pneumonia from whom only an acute-phase serum sample was available was traced by using an indirect immunofluorescence (IF) test, nested PCR, and isolation. Twenty (34.5%) of 58 sera were found to have both polyvalent and immunoglobulin M antibodies to the phase II antigen of Coxiella burnetii by the IF test. Q fever pneumonia was present in 23 (39.7%) of 58 patients as determined by both the nested PCR and isolation and in 20 patients as determined by the IF test. The sensitivities for nested PCR and isolation were 100%, and that for the IF test was 87%. Our results indicate that nested PCR was faster and more sensitive than isolation and the IF test in the diagnosis of acute Q fever when a single acute-phase serum was available. These findings suggest that C. burnetii is an important cause of atypical pneumonia in children in Japan.
To
H
H
Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Gifu University, Japan.
Kako
N
N
Zhang
G Q
GQ
Otsuka
H
H
Ogawa
M
M
Ochiai
O
O
Nguyen
S V
SV
Yamaguchi
T
T
Fukushi
H
H
Nagaoka
N
N
Akiyama
M
M
Amano
K
K
Hirai
K
K
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011778:Q Fever / Q000175:diagnosis*
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial