Q fever in children
J. Ruiz-Contreras, R. Gonzalez Montero, J. T. Ramos Amador, E. Giancaspro Corradi and A. Scarpellini Vera
Departamento de Pediatria, Hospital 12 de Octubre, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
OBJECTIVE--To describe clinical profiles of Q fever in children.
DESIGN--Retrospective study. SETTING--Tertiary teaching hospital.
PARTICIPANTS--Thirteen children aged 2 to 14 years, with a mean +/- SD age
of 9.6 +/- 3.6 years. SELECTION PROCEDURES--Review of the medical records
of all children with Q fever admitted from 1986 to 1990. The diagnosis was
made by detection of phase II antibodies to Coxiella burnetii by the
complement fixation test. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS--Clinical profiles
consisted of a self-limited illness characterized by high fever (mean +/-
SD, 39.9 degrees C +/- 0.66 degrees C) of 5 to 10 days' duration (mean +/-
SD, 7.4 +/- 1.6 days), constitutional symptoms, and mild liver dysfunction.
Eleven patients had gastrointestinal manifestations (vomiting and/or
abdominal pain). Respiratory symptoms were not prominent. Most patients had
normal or low white blood cell counts, and seven showed a relative increase
of band forms. Their erythrocyte sedimentation rates ranged from 8 to 23
mm/h. All patients did well without specific therapy for C burnetii.
CONCLUSION--In children with the symptoms described above, tests to detect
antibodies to C burnetii should be performed.
