Abstract
Background: Although the pathogenic role of Coxiella burnetii infection during pregnancy is controversial, some cases of stillbirth and abortion occurring after an acute or chronic infection have been mentioned in the literature. Recently, Q fever has been advocated as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnancy
Case: We describe an 18-year-old primipara woman admitted to our hospital for high fever and pancytopenia during an acute C. burnetii infection. She was successfully treated with clarithromycin, overcoming fever and pancytopenia. Finally, she gave birth to a healthy infant, and 1 year later both remained well.
Conclusion: Q fever is a potentially serious disease in pregnancy owing to the possibility of placenta infection and fetal transmission affecting its outcome. Q fever infection should be suspected in unexplained febrile episodes or abortion during pregnancy, when epidemiologic and clinical data are present.We believe that C. burnetii serology should be tested in cases of fever of known origin or unexplained abortions, as the TORCH infections are.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (86.2 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Estrov Z., Bruck R., Shtalrid M., Berrebi A., Resnitzky P. Histiocytic hemophagocytosis in Q fever. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1984 Jan;108(1):7–7. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gikas A., Spyridaki I., Psaroulaki A., Kofterithis D., Tselentis Y. In vitro susceptibility of Coxiella burnetii to trovafloxacin in comparison with susceptibilities to pefloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, doxycycline, and clarithromycin. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1998 Oct;42(10):2747–2748. doi: 10.1128/aac.42.10.2747. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hufnagel M., Niemeyer C., Zimmerhackl L. B., Tüchelmann T., Sauter S., Brandis M. Hemophagocytosis: a complication of acute Q fever in a child. Clin Infect Dis. 1995 Oct;21(4):1029–1031. doi: 10.1093/clinids/21.4.1029. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Levy P. Y., Drancourt M., Etienne J., Auvergnat J. C., Beytout J., Sainty J. M., Goldstein F., Raoult D. Comparison of different antibiotic regimens for therapy of 32 cases of Q fever endocarditis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1991 Mar;35(3):533–537. doi: 10.1128/aac.35.3.533. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ludlam H., Wreghitt T. G., Thornton S., Thomson B. J., Bishop N. J., Coomber S., Cunniffe J. Q fever in pregnancy. J Infect. 1997 Jan;34(1):75–78. doi: 10.1016/s0163-4453(97)80014-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Racult D., Stein A. Q fever during pregnancy--a risk for women, fetuses, and obstetricians. N Engl J Med. 1994 Feb 3;330(5):371–371. doi: 10.1056/nejm199402033300518. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stein A., Raoult D. Q fever during pregnancy: a public health problem in southern France. Clin Infect Dis. 1998 Sep;27(3):592–596. doi: 10.1086/514698. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Téllez A., Sanz Moreno J., Valkova D., Domingo C., Anda P., de Ory F., Albarrán F., Raoult D. Q fever in pregnancy: case report after a 2-year follow-up. J Infect. 1998 Jul;37(1):79–81. doi: 10.1016/s0163-4453(98)91034-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]