Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1996 Mar;34(3):647–651. doi: 10.1128/jcm.34.3.647-651.1996

Q fever pneumonia in children in Japan.

H To 1, N Kako 1, G Q Zhang 1, H Otsuka 1, M Ogawa 1, O Ochiai 1, S V Nguyen 1, T Yamaguchi 1, H Fukushi 1, N Nagaoka 1, M Akiyama 1, K Amano 1, K Hirai 1
PMCID: PMC228863  PMID: 8904431

Abstract

The prevalence of Q fever pneumonia among children with atypical pneumonia from whom only an acute-phase serum sample was available was traced by using an indirect immunofluorescence (IF) test, nested PCR, and isolation. Twenty (34.5%) of 58 sera were found to have both polyvalent and immunoglobulin M antibodies to the phase II antigen of Coxiella burnetii by the IF test. Q fever pneumonia was present in 23 (39.7%) of 58 patients as determined by both the nested PCR and isolation and in 20 patients as determined by the IF test. The sensitivities for nested PCR and isolation were 100%, and that for the IF test was 87%. Our results indicate that nested PCR was faster and more sensitive than isolation and the IF test in the diagnosis of acute Q fever when a single acute-phase serum was available. These findings suggest that C. burnetii is an important cause of atypical pneumonia in children in Japan.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (192.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Derrick E. H. The course of infection with Coxiella burneti. Med J Aust. 1973 May 26;1(21):1051–1057. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dupont H. T., Thirion X., Raoult D. Q fever serology: cutoff determination for microimmunofluorescence. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 1994 Mar;1(2):189–196. doi: 10.1128/cdli.1.2.189-196.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dupuis G., Péter O., Peacock M., Burgdorfer W., Haller E. Immunoglobulin responses in acute Q fever. J Clin Microbiol. 1985 Oct;22(4):484–487. doi: 10.1128/jcm.22.4.484-487.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ejercito C. L., Cai L., Htwe K. K., Taki M., Inoshima Y., Kondo T., Kano C., Abe S., Shirota K., Sugimoto T. Serological evidence of Coxiella burnetii infection in wild animals in Japan. J Wildl Dis. 1993 Jul;29(3):481–484. doi: 10.7589/0090-3558-29.3.481. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Embil J., Williams J. C., Marrie T. J. The immune response in a cat-related outbreak of Q fever as measured by the indirect immunofluorescence test and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Can J Microbiol. 1990 Apr;36(4):292–296. doi: 10.1139/m90-050. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Guigno D., Coupland B., Smith E. G., Farrell I. D., Desselberger U., Caul E. O. Primary humoral antibody response to Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Aug;30(8):1958–1967. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.8.1958-1967.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ho T., Htwe K. K., Yamasaki N., Zhang G. Q., Ogawa M., Yamaguchi T., Fukushi H., Hirai K. Isolation of Coxiella burnetii from dairy cattle and ticks, and some characteristics of the isolates in Japan. Microbiol Immunol. 1995;39(9):663–671. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1995.tb03254.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Htwe K. K., Amano K., Sugiyama Y., Yagami K., Minamoto N., Hashimoto A., Yamaguchi T., Fukushi H., Hirai K. Seroepidemiology of Coxiella burnetii in domestic and companion animals in Japan. Vet Rec. 1992 Nov 21;131(21):490–490. doi: 10.1136/vr.131.21.490. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Htwe K. K., Yoshida T., Hayashi S., Miyake T., Amano K., Morita C., Yamaguchi T., Fukushi H., Hirai K. Prevalence of antibodies to Coxiella burnetii in Japan. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Mar;31(3):722–723. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.3.722-723.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hunt J. G., Field P. R., Murphy A. M. Immunoglobulin responses to Coxiella burnetii (Q fever): single-serum diagnosis of acute infection, using an immunofluorescence technique. Infect Immun. 1983 Feb;39(2):977–981. doi: 10.1128/iai.39.2.977-981.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jorm L. R., Lightfoot N. F., Morgan K. L. An epidemiological study of an outbreak of Q fever in a secondary school. Epidemiol Infect. 1990 Jun;104(3):467–477. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800047476. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kwok S., Higuchi R. Avoiding false positives with PCR. Nature. 1989 May 18;339(6221):237–238. doi: 10.1038/339237a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mallavia L. P., Whiting L. L., Minnick M. F., Heinzen R., Reschke D., Foreman M., Baca O. G., Frazier M. E. Strategy for detection and differentiation of Coxiella burnetii strains using the polymerase chain reaction. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990;590:572–581. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1990.tb42268.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Morita C., Katsuyama J., Yanase T., Ueno H., Muramatsu Y., Hohdatsu T., Koyama H. Seroepidemiological survey of Coxiella burnetii in domestic cats in Japan. Microbiol Immunol. 1994;38(12):1001–1003. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1994.tb02159.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Peacock M. G., Philip R. N., Williams J. C., Faulkner R. S. Serological evaluation of O fever in humans: enhanced phase I titers of immunoglobulins G and A are diagnostic for Q fever endocarditis. Infect Immun. 1983 Sep;41(3):1089–1098. doi: 10.1128/iai.41.3.1089-1098.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Péter O., Dupuis G., Burgdorfer W., Peacock M. Evaluation of the complement fixation and indirect immunofluorescence tests in the early diagnosis of primary Q fever. Eur J Clin Microbiol. 1985 Aug;4(4):394–396. doi: 10.1007/BF02148690. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ruiz-Contreras J., González Montero R., Ramos Amador J. T., Giancaspro Corradi E., Scarpellini Vera A. Q fever in children. Am J Dis Child. 1993 Mar;147(3):300–302. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1993.02160270062019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Stein A., Raoult D. Detection of Coxiella burnetti by DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Sep;30(9):2462–2466. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.9.2462-2466.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Tissot Dupont H., Raoult D., Brouqui P., Janbon F., Peyramond D., Weiller P. J., Chicheportiche C., Nezri M., Poirier R. Epidemiologic features and clinical presentation of acute Q fever in hospitalized patients: 323 French cases. Am J Med. 1992 Oct;93(4):427–434. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(92)90173-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Vodkin M. H., Williams J. C. A heat shock operon in Coxiella burnetti produces a major antigen homologous to a protein in both mycobacteria and Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1988 Mar;170(3):1227–1234. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.3.1227-1234.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Worswick D., Marmion B. P. Antibody responses in acute and chronic Q fever and in subjects vaccinated against Q fever. J Med Microbiol. 1985 Jun;19(3):281–296. doi: 10.1099/00222615-19-3-281. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Yoshiie K., Oda H., Nagano N., Matayoshi S. Serological evidence that the Q fever agent (Coxiella burnetii) has spread widely among dairy cattle of Japan. Microbiol Immunol. 1991;35(7):577–581. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1991.tb01588.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES