A Short Report on the Lack of a Pyrogenic Response of Australian Genomic Group IV Isolates of Coxiella burnetii in Guinea Pigs

Aminul Islam; John Stenos; Gemma Vincent; Stephen Graves

doi:10.3390/tropicalmed4010018

A Short Report on the Lack of a Pyrogenic Response of Australian Genomic Group IV Isolates of Coxiella burnetii in Guinea Pigs

Trop Med Infect Dis. 2019 Jan 25;4(1):18. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed4010018.

Authors

Aminul Islam¹, John Stenos², Gemma Vincent³, Stephen Graves^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, University Hospital Geelong, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia. aislam.islam@gmail.com.
² Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, University Hospital Geelong, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia. johns@barwonhealth.org.au.
³ Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, University Hospital Geelong, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia. gvince@barwonhealth.org.au.
⁴ Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, University Hospital Geelong, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia. graves.rickettsia@gmail.com.
⁵ New South Wales Health Pathology, Nepean Hospital, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia. graves.rickettsia@gmail.com.

Abstract

This small study reports on a non-pyrogenic response of five different Australian isolates of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii). They were all members of Genomic Group IV and obtained from three cases of acute human infection, one case of chronic human infection and one case of goat abortion. The guinea pigs infected with these isolates did not develop fever (temperature ≥40.0 °C), which is consistent with other members of this genomic group that were isolated from elsewhere in the world. In contrast, guinea pigs infected with the classical USA tick isolate, Nine Mile phase 1 (RSA 493) of Genomic Group I, experienced a four-day febrile period.

Keywords: Australia; C. burnetii; Q fever; guinea pigs; pyrogenicity.