Outbreak of Q-fever in a Yugoslav army unit in wartime conditions

In an outbreak of Q-fever in an Army unit lasting 9 days, 20 (13.4%) soldiers had contracted a disease. The outbreak occurred due to the entry of the unit into the focus originated by lambing and pasture of infected sheep. The source of the infection was the contaminated dust from the grassland where the soldiers were training, and they were infected by aerogenic way. In 11 (55%) patients, the disease was manifested as pneumonia that was radiologically confirmed in 7 (35%) patients, while the rest were with the symptoms of influenza and upper airways infection. As soon as tetracycline was administered, health state of the patients was significantly improved and all were released as cured after the treatment. Finding of the antibodies to Coxiella burneti in 66.6% of the patients confirmed the etiology of the disease in this outbreak.