Analysis of Q fever in Uruguay

The first outbreak of Q fever in Uruguay occurred in 1956. The infection, which is caused by Coxiella burnetti, occurs in sheep, cattle, swine, and horses, but not in fowl or guinea pig. Most of the cases studied have been traced to cattle. Fourteen outbreaks of this disease were studied between 1975 and 1985. All of the 1,358 clinically suspected cases (814 serologically confirmed) reported in Uruguay occurred in workers at meat-processing plants. Diagnoses of cases and serologic surveys were made by use of complement fixation, capillary agglutination, and layer microagglutination techniques.