Q fever in adults: review of 66 clinical cases.

Sixty-six cases of Q fever in adults, serologically confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence, were studied to analyze the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic aspects of the disease. Eighty-three percent of the patients were male, and the mean age was 44.7 years. Contact with animals was recorded in 24 patients. The main clinical form of presentation was pneumonia (37 cases); eight patients had hypoxia, and five had respiratory failure. The empirical treatment consisted of macrolides in 36% of cases. Evolution was favorable in all cases.