Q Fever

Signs and Symptoms

Fever, cough and chest pain may occur as early as ten days after exposure. Patients are not generally critically ill, and the illness lasts from 2 days to 2 weeks.

Diagnosis

Q fever is not a clinically distinct illness and may resemble a viral illness or other types of atypical pneumonia. The diagnosis is confirmed serologically.

Treatment

Q fever is generally a self-limited illness even without treatment, but tetracycline or doxycycline should be given orally for 5 to 7 days to prevent complications of the disease. Q fever heart infection (rare) is much more difficult to treat.

Preventative Measures

ChemoPrevention begun too early during the incubation period may delay but not prevent the onset of symptoms. Therefore, tetracycline or doxycycline should be started 8-12 days post exposure and continued for 5 days. This regimen has been shown to prevent clinical disease. An inactivated whole cell IND vaccine is effective against exposure, but severe local reactions to this vaccine may occur those who already have immunity. A skin test is recommended to detect pre-sensitized or immune individuals.