title: Coxiella burnetii-positive PCR in febrile patients in rural and urban Africa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Q fever has been reported throughout the African continent. The objective of this study was to detect the presence of Coxiella burnetii in febrile patients from Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples from febrile and non-febrile patients from six African countries and from France were investigated retrospectively for Q fever infection by molecular assays targeting the IS1111 and IS30A spacers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We tested 1888 febrile patients from Senegal, Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, Gabon, and Morocco and found one male adult patient (0.3%) infected with C. burnetii in Algeria and six positive patients (0.5%) in Senegal. For one patient from Senegal we determined that the infection was caused by C. burnetii genotype 35. In Senegal, more patients were infected with C. burnetii in Keur Momar Sarr (p=0.002) than in the other locations. Blood samples taken from 500 (51% males) non-febrile people from Senegal and France were all negative.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The installation of point-of-care laboratories in rural Africa can be a very effective tool for studying the epidemiology of many infectious diseases.
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, 13005 Marseille, France. Electronic address: angelotasmanos@msn.com.
authors.forename: Emmanouil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Angelakis
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, 13005 Marseille, France; Campus Commun UCAD-IRD of Hann, BP 1386, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mediannikov
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Socolovschi
authors.affiliation: Service des Maladies Infectieuses, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire d'Oran, Oran, Algeria.
authors.forename: Nadjet
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mouffok
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, 13005 Marseille, France; Campus Commun UCAD-IRD of Hann, BP 1386, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bassene
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Adama
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tall
authors.affiliation: Malaria Research and Training Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sciences Techniques and Technology, Bamako, Bamako, Mali.
authors.forename: Hamidou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niangaly
authors.affiliation: Malaria Research and Training Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sciences Techniques and Technology, Bamako, Bamako, Mali.
authors.forename: Ogobara
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Doumbo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology and Laboratory of Research 'MPH', Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Abir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Znazen
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Maladies Vectorielles, Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mhammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sarih
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, 13005 Marseille, France; Campus Commun UCAD-IRD of Hann, BP 1386, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Cheikh
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sokhna
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, 13005 Marseille, France; Campus Commun UCAD-IRD of Hann, BP 1386, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000462:Algeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011778:Q Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D012424:Rural Population; D012675:Senegal / Q000453:epidemiology; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Africa; Coxiella burnetii; Genotype; Multi-spacer sequence typing; Q fever