1. Large vessel vasculitis in a patient with acute Q-fever: A case report
- Author
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Eleftheria Barmpouti, Ilias Karaiskos, Stilianos Konstantinidis, Fotini Baziaka, George D. Kitas, Helen Giamarellou, and Lamprini Galani
- Subjects
Vasculitis ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Q fever ,Inflammation ,Case Report ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 ,FDG-PET scan ,Large vessel vasculitis ,medicine ,biology ,business.industry ,Zoonosis ,Autoantibody ,Coxiella burnetii ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,bacterial infections and mycoses ,Infectious Diseases ,Thoracic aortic wall ,Coxiella burnetii infection ,Immunology ,bacteria ,medicine.symptom ,business - Abstract
Q fever is a zoonosis caused by the rickettsial organism Coxiella burnetii. Infection has an acute course, usually with a self-limited febrile illness and the possibility of the evaluation to a chronic course with endocardial involvement. The presence of autoantibodies and various autoimmune disorders have also been associated with C. burnetii infection. We report a case of acute Q fever in which the patient developed large vessel vasculitis. The FDG-PET/CT scan detected inflammation of the thoracic aortic wall, suggesting an unusual immunologic host response to acute Q fever infection.
- Published
- 2014