Systemic Immune Presentations of Coxiella burnetii Infection (Q Fever)

Q-fever presenting as an autoimmune disease: case report and review

“…Cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (c-ANCA) [15, present report] Perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (p-ANCA) [16] Antiglomelural basement membrane (IgG anti-GBM) [16] IgG anti-β2 glycoprotein I antibodies (anti-β2GPI Abs) [16] Anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) [9,16,18] Lupus anticoagulant (LA) [9,16,18] Anti-smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) [5,16,17] IgG kappa monoclonal gammopathy [9, present report] Coombs' test positive [9] Cold agglutinins [5,17] Type II cryglobulinemia [9] Polyclonal cryoglobulins IgG and IgA with IgMκ [11] Rheumatoid factor (RF) [5] Anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA) [5] Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) [5] …”

“…Crohn's disease [9] Goodpasture's syndrome [9] Adult-onset Still's disease [9] Polymyalgia rheumatica [9] Giant-cell arteritis [9,12] Polyarteritis nodosa [9] Kawasaki's syndrome [10] Essential cryoglobulinemia [9] Mixed cryoglobulinemia [11] on presentation. Autoimmune phenomena associated with Q-fever may obscure the clinical picture, and in many reports, mislead physicians to an initial diagnosis of an autoimmune disease [9][10][11][12] (Table 2).…”

“…Autoimmune phenomena associated with Q-fever may obscure the clinical picture, and in many reports, mislead physicians to an initial diagnosis of an autoimmune disease [9][10][11][12] (Table 2). In a report from a French hospital, among 68 consecutive patients with Q fever, 7 cases presented with atypical symptoms suggesting vasculitis or another autoimmune disorder [9].…”

“…Autoimmune phenomena associated with Q-fever may obscure the clinical picture, and in many reports, mislead physicians to an initial diagnosis of an autoimmune disease [9][10][11][12] (Table 2). In a report from a French hospital, among 68 consecutive patients with Q fever, 7 cases presented with atypical symptoms suggesting vasculitis or another autoimmune disorder [9]. Erythema nodosum is a cutaneous reactive process associated with a variety of conditions, including infections and autoimmune diseases, although it is a rare complication of Q fever in the context of the infectioninduced autoimmunity [6,13].…”

Endocarditis due to a stealthy bug

“…In the absence of typical clinical and echocardiographic signs of endocarditis Q fever endocarditis was not thought of initially, instead the patient was suspected to have severe degenerative aortic stenosis and concomitant polymyalgia rheumatica. It has previously been described that Q fever may mimic systemic immune disorders [5].…”