10.1371/journal.pone.0131777
Gabriëlla Morroy
Gabriëlla
Morroy
Wim van der Hoek
Wim
van der Hoek
Jelle Albers
Jelle
Albers
Roel A. Coutinho
Roel
A. Coutinho
Chantal P. Bleeker-Rovers
Chantal
P. Bleeker-Rovers
Peter M. Schneeberger
Peter
M. Schneeberger
Population Screening for Chronic Q-Fever Seven Years after a Major Outbreak
Public Library of Science
2015
epidemic
participant
population screening program
outbreak
netherlands
population screening
Major Outbreak IntroductionFrom 2007
infection
chronic
ifa
2015-07-01 02:46:29
Dataset
https://plos.figshare.com/articles/dataset/_Population_Screening_for_Chronic_Q_Fever_Seven_Years_after_a_Major_Outbreak_/1470191
<div><p>Introduction</p><p>From 2007 through 2010, the Netherlands experienced a large Q-fever epidemic, with 4,107 notifications. The most serious complication of Q-fever is chronic Q-fever.</p><p>Method</p><p>In 2014, we contacted all 2,161 adult inhabitants of the first village in the Netherlands affected by the Q-fever epidemic and offered to test for antibodies against <i>Coxiella burnetii</i> using immunofluorescence assay (IFA) to screen for chronic infections and assess whether large-scale population screening elsewhere is warranted.</p><p>Results</p><p>Of the 1,517 participants, 33.8% were IFA-positive. Six IFA-positive participants had an IgG phase I titer ≥1:512. Two of these six participants were previously diagnosed with chronic Q-fever. Chronic infection was diagnosed in one of the other four participants after clinical examination.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Seven years after the initial outbreak, seroprevalence remains high, but the yield of screening the general population for chronic Q-fever is low. A policy of screening known high-risk groups for chronic Q-fever in outbreak areas directly following an outbreak might be more efficient than population screening. A cost-effectiveness analysis should also be performed before initiating a population screening program for chronic Q-fever.</p></div>