ABSTRACT
Coxiella burnetii is the etiological agent of Q fever, that may occur either acutely or the chronically. To understand the seroepidemiological patterns of C. burnetii infection in Korea, we examined a total of 3,178 sera from patients with acute febrile episodes by using indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for detectable antibodies to C. burnetii and other eight rickettsial antigens. The IFA seropositivity>or=1:20 for C. burnetii phase II was 11.5% (368 out of 3,178 sera). The co-existence of antibodies to other rickettsial antigens was found in 216 out of the 368 positive sera. Thirty-seven point five percent (n=138) had antibodies to R. tsutsugamushi (cutoff>or=1:20), 16% (n=59) to Ehrlichia sennetsu, 14.9% (n=55) to Rickettsia typhi, 13.5% (n=50) to R. akari, 11.4% (n=42) to R. japonica, 8.9% (n=33) to R. prowazekii, 7.6% (n=28) to R. sibirica, and 6.7% (n=25) to R. conorii by IFA, respectively. These results are consistent with previous reports documenting diverse serum cross-reactivity in chronic Q fever. Therefore we excluded the samples that reacted to other rickettsial antigens at same or higher titers than to C. burnetii, resulting in the seropositive rate of 4.1%. The serological prevalence was 2% (n=64) when the conventional cut-off titer of 1:80 was used. Our results suggest that infections with C. burnetii are more prevalent than expected previously and should be differentially diagnosised for febrile illness occurring after exposure to ticks or other vectors.
Subject(s)
Humans , Antibodies , Coxiella burnetii , Coxiella , Diagnosis , Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect , Korea , Neorickettsia sennetsu , Prevalence , Q Fever , Rickettsia , Rickettsia typhi , Seroepidemiologic Studies , TicksABSTRACT
Cheilitis granulomatosa is one of the rare dermatoses which is characterized by a sudden onset and a progressive course termination in chronic enlargement of the lips Usually, enlargement of lip is the only symtom without ulceration, fissurign or scaling. It may be considered a part of the Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome and the etiology is still unknown. A 35 year old female with the clinlcal symptoms of cheilitis granulomatosa is presented; the diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic study.
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Humans , Diagnosis , Lip , Melkersson-Rosenthal Syndrome , Skin Diseases , UlcerABSTRACT
A statistical observations were made on total 79 In-Patients in the departments of dermatology, Dongsan Presbyterian Hospital, Kyungpook National University and Fatima Hospital, Taegu, Korea during the period from Sept. 1, 1975 to August 31, 1976.
