Hideo Ohba

Clinical features of Q fever pneumonia

Abstract:  The aim of the study was to assess the clinical features of Q fever pneumonia in Japan. Four cases of Q fever pneumonia (a female aged 21 and males aged 53, 74 and 87 years) who were diagnosed using the PanBio ELISA test kit, were assessed and their clinical features are described. The frequency of Q fever pneumonia among our cases of community‐acquired pneumonia was 1.4% (4/284). A 21‐year‐old female had a typical case of the disease with (i) a history of owning a cat, (ii) onset with fever and dry cough, (iii) multiple soft infiltrative shadows on CXR, (iv) a normal white blood cell count, and (v) good response to clarithromycin. The pneumonias in the other three cases were considered mixed infections with bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. Their clinical features included the following: (i) an elderly person with an underlying disease, (ii) onset with fever and purulent sputum, (iii) coarse crackles on auscultation, (iv) infiltrative shadows and pleural effusion on CXR, (v) increased white blood cells with elevated BUN and hyponatraemia, and (vi) modest responses to combined therapy with carbapenem and minocycline. Our observations suggest that two types of pneumonia caused by Coxiella burnetti exist; one with the usual features of atypical pneumonia, and the other presenting with the clinical features of bacterial pneumonia in the elderly due to mixed bacterial infection.

Clinical predictors for the detection of community-acquired pneumonia in adults as a guide to ordering chest radiographs

Objective:  To identify sensitive clinical predictors for the detection of community‐acquired pneumonia in adults as a guide to when to order a CXR.

Coxiella burnetii and acute exacerbations/infections in patients with chronic lung disease

The aim of the present study was to determine the incidence of Q fever in patients with an acute exacerbation of a chronic lower respiratory tract infection. Eighty patients treated for acute exacerbation of chronic lower respiratory tract infections during a 30‐month period were studied. Q fever was diagnosed by ELISA. Two elderly woman with pre‐existing bronchiectasis (2.5%) were diagnosed as having an acute infection by Coxiella burnetii. The acute illness was considered to be a result of mixed infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Haemophilus influenzae with C. burnetii. Co‐infection with C. burnetii can occur during a bacterial exacerbation of a chronic lower respiratory tract infection.