Q fever is an endemic disease in different parts of Greece. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of acute Q fever disease in Greece through the operation of the national reference centre for Q fever. A total of 5397 sera were received from febrile patients under the suspicion of Q fever infection during a 13 years period (2001-20013). A questionnaire was filled in by the clinicians containing certain clinical/epidemiological/demographic information. The diagnosis was based both on IFA (IgG and IgM phase II antibodies against Coxiella burnetii) and on molecular means. A total of 685 (12.7 %) samples were initially tested positive for acute Q fever. The mean (±SD) age of patients was 55.3 years (±18.7). Out of the 489 convalescent samples, 134 (27.4 %) samples indicated a minimum of a four-fold seroconversion and were considered as laboratory confirmed cases of acute Q fever. Pneumonia was the most frequently encountered clinical symptom with presence in 6.8 % of all positive samples. Forty six (46) patients were laboratory confirmed as chronic Q fever cases. Climate seemed to influence the distribution of Q fever cases throughout the years. The findings of the current study comply with past studies carried out elsewhere that had demonstrated a clear relation of the disease with temperature, south winds, etc. This study represents the first large scale attempt to gather a long period information on Q fever infection in Greece. The findings of the current study support the fact that Q fever is an important endemic zoonotic disease in Greece and needs increased awareness by clinical physicians and health care system.

中文翻译：

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希腊的Q发烧：一项为期13年的监视研究的结果。

Q发烧是希腊不同地区的地方病。当前的研究旨在通过国家Q发烧参考中心的运作来调查希腊的急性Q发烧患病率。在13年的时间里（2001-20013），由于怀疑是Q发热感染，共从发热患者那里获得了5397份血清。临床医生填写了一份调查表，其中包含某些临床/流行病学/人口统计学信息。诊断基于IFA（针对柯氏杆菌的II型IgG和IgM II期抗体）和分子手段。最初总共对685个样品（12.7％）进行了急性Q发热试验阳性。患者的平均年龄（±SD）为55.3岁（±18.7）。在489个恢复期的样本中，有134个（27。4％）的样本表明至少有四倍的血清转化，并被视为实验室确诊的急性Q发热病例。肺炎是最常见的临床症状，占所有阳性样本的6.8％。实验室确认四十六（46）例患者为慢性Q型发热病例。多年来，气候似乎影响了Q发热病例的分布。当前研究的结果与以往在其他地方进行的研究一致，这些研究表明该疾病与温度，南风等因素有着明显的关系。该研究代表了希腊的一项大规模尝试，旨在收集有关Q热感染的长期信息。 。