Q fever in an American tourist returned from Australia.

Q fever was diagnosed in a previously healthy man who had recently traveled to the East Coast of Australia. The patient experienced fever and headache accompanied by lymphopenia and elevated liver enzymes but not pneumonia. He had no known direct exposures to animals, exhibited IgM and IgG seroconversion to phase II antigen of Coxiella burnetii and IgM only to phase I antigen, and responded to doxycycline treatment. This case serves as a reminder to clinicians to consider Q fever in the differential diagnosis of acute febrile illness in travelers returning from endemic areas.