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A Report of 29 Cases and Review of the Literature

Emmanuelle Bernit, MD; Jean Pouget, MD; François Janbon, MD; Hervé Dutronc, MD; Philippe Martinez, MD; Philippe Brouqui, MD, PhD; Didier Raoult, MD, PhD

Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:693-700.

Background  Q fever is characterized by its clinical polymorphism; neurological involvement has occasionally been described. In the course of acute Q fever, neurological manifestations may include aseptic meningitis, encephalitis or encephalomyelitis, and peripheral neuropathy.

Objective  To review and evaluate cases of acute Q fever with neurological symptoms diagnosed in our laboratory.

Methods  A total of 1269 acute Q fever cases were recorded from January 1985 to January 2000 in our laboratory and were reviewed for neurological complications. Patients were considered to have acute Q fever when serological procedures showed Coxiella burnetii phase II titers of 1:200 or higher for IgG and 1:50 or higher for IgM. Those patients who underwent a lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid analysis or who had abnormal neurological symptoms were selected for this study. We describe the clinical, epidemiological, and biological features of these cases. We also review the literature and compare our cases with those previously reported.

Results  Among the 45 patients selected, 14 were excluded because they had normal cerebrospinal fluid and no neurological symptoms. Two were excluded because there were no clinical or epidemiological data. Three major clinical syndromes were observed: meningoencephalitis or encephalitis in 17 cases; meningitis in 8; and myelitis and peripheral neuropathy in 4. Encephalitic signs were not specific, but behavior or psychiatric disturbances were common.

Conclusions  Q fever should be included in the differential diagnosis of acute neurological disease in a patient with a fever. Serological testing should be performed in cases of meningoencephalitis, lymphocytic meningitis, and peripheral neuropathy, including Guillain-Barré syndrome and myelitis.

From Unité des Rickettsies, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Drs Bernit, Brouqui, and Raoult) and Service de Neurologie, Hôpital de La Timone (Dr Pouget), Marseille, France; Service de Maladies Infectieuses, Hôpital Gui de Chauliac, Montpellier, France (Dr Janbon); Service de Maladies Infectieuses, Hôpital Pellegrin-Tripode, Bordeaux, France (Dr Dutronc); and Service de Neurologie, Hôpital de Rangueil, Toulouse, France (Dr Martinez).

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