An Investigation into Five Notified Cases of Q Fever in Changhua Region

Donald Dah-Shyong Jiang

2006 Vol.22 NO.8

Correspondence Author：

Abstract：

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii, a species of bacteria that is distributed globally. However, its incident patterns and clinical symptoms vary in different regions. The Q fever infection suffered by animals is called “coxiellosis,” and it is transmitted among arthropods, birds, and mammals. Most human Q fever infections originate from species of livestock or domesticated pets [1]. Once people have been infected, the usual manifestations are either acute forms of pneumonia, flu like illness and hepatitis, or chronic form of endocarditis. Humans may get infected through inhaling contaminated aerosol droplets, and those droplets come from tissues or body fluids of infected animals. Because Q fever is not listed as a notifiable disease in Taiwan and the law does not require reporting, its actual occurrence rate and geographic distribution are not clearly known by us.