title: Neurological complications of acute Q fever infection.
abstract: Coxiella burnetii the agent of Q fever produces a variety of clinical syndromes. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is reported to be a rare feature of the disease usually presented as a severe headache and rarely as meningoencephalitis. We retrospectively studied the medical records of 49 patients with clinical signs of CNS involvement. Among 121 patients with acute Q fever infection 49 (40.5%) had some degree of neurological involvement, varying from a severe headache in the majority of the patients (40.5%) to confusion (4.1%) and meningitis (0.8%). The majority of these patients with CNS involvement (91%) had been admitted to the hospital as community acquired pneumonia. The clinical evidence of CNS involvement is not a rare feature of acute Q fever infection and Coxiella burnetii should be considered as a possible etiology of meningitis or meningoencephalitis in endemic areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Crete School of Medicine and University Hospital, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. kofterid@med.uoc.gr
authors.forename: Diamantis P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kofteridis
authors.forename: Elias E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Mazokopakis
authors.forename: Yiannis
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tselentis
authors.forename: Achilleas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gikas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D011778:Q Fever / Q000150:complications*; D012189:Retrospective Studies