Neurological complications of acute Q fever infection

Coxiella burnetii the agent of Q fever produces a variety of clinical syndromes. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is reported to be a rare feature of the disease usually presented as a severe headache and rarely as meningoencephalitis. We retrospectively studied the medical records of 49 patients with clinical signs of CNS involvement. Among 121 patients with acute Q fever infection 49 (40.5%) had some degree of neurological involvement, varying from a severe headache in the majority of the patients (40.5%) to confusion (4.1%) and meningitis (0.8%). The majority of these patients with CNS involvement (91%) had been admitted to the hospital as community acquired pneumonia. The clinical evidence of CNS involvement is not a rare feature of acute Q fever infection and Coxiella burnetii should be considered as a possible etiology of meningitis or meningoencephalitis in endemic areas.