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. 2021 Jan 19;12(1):e0007.
doi: 10.5041/RMMJ.10430.

Q Fever Vertebral Osteomyelitis Complicating Vertebroplasty

Karina Dorfman  1 , Ayelet Eran  2 , Nesrin Ghanem-Zoubi  3
Affiliations

Q Fever Vertebral Osteomyelitis Complicating Vertebroplasty

Karina Dorfman et al. Rambam Maimonides Med J. .

Abstract

Query (Q) fever is a zoonotic bacterial infection caused by Coxiella burnetii. In a minority of patients, chronic disease can occur after acute infection. Endocarditis and infections of aneurysms or vascular prostheses are the most common forms of chronic Q fever in adults. We report a case of an elderly female patient with chronic Q fever vertebral osteomyelitis at the site of her previous cement vertebroplasty, complicated by paravertebral abscess. Patient treatment required prolonged drainage in addition to the long duration of antibiotic treatment by doxycycline and hydroxychloroquine. Osteomyelitis is a rare clinical presentation in adults with chronic Q fever. However, it is important to consider Q fever in the differential diagnosis of culture-negative osteomyelitis, especially in countries where C. burnetii is endemic, such as Israel.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Contrast-enhanced Abdominal Images Computed Tomography Images. A: Axial soft tissue window at the level of D11–D12. B: Coronal soft tissue window. C: Sagittal bone window. D: Sagittal soft tissue window.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sagittal Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Lumbar Spine. A: T1-weighted non-contrast-enhanced. B: Short tau inversion recovery (STIR). C: T1-weighted fat-suppressed with Gadolinium-based contrast media.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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