Diagnosis of acute Q fever by PCR on sera during a recent outbreak in rural south Australia.
Diagnosis of Q fever has largely been dependent upon serology, which may lead to delayed diagnosis as seroconversion can take weeks to develop. During a recent Q fever outbreak (27 patients) in rural South Australia, we compared the diagnostic rate of serology with two separate real-time PCRs, the 27kDa outer membrane protein and the insertion sequence. PCR was positive (on either or both PCR assays) in sera of 67% of the patients. Median time required for making serological diagnosis was 17 days, compared with 4 days by PCR. Q fever PCR is an effective tool in the diagnosis of acute Q fever infection.
Turra
M
M
Consultant Microbiologist/Virologist, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Rundle Mall, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
Chang
G
G
Whybrow
D
D
Higgins
G
G
Qiao
M
M
D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011778:Q Fever / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012424:Rural Population; D012698:Serologic Tests; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology