Coxiella burnetii is a gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium that must survive and replicate in an acidified phagosome of an infected host cell (Fig. 1). Most closely related to Legionella pneumophila, it is a member of the γ-proteobacteria class in the Legionellales order. First discovered in the 1930s in Australia and the United States, it is an organism with a worldwide distribution and is the causative agent of query (Q) fever in humans. C. burnetii, like Chlamydia, has a complex life cycle with at least two forms, a metabolically active large cell variant (LCV) and a spore-like small cell variant (SCV). Unlike Chlamydia, both the cell forms are infectious. Moreover, the SCV (or another resilient form, see C. burnetii Lifecycle Stages section) can survive in the environment outside a host for years while remaining infectious and is small enough to be carried and dispersed for miles by wind. These properties have renewed interest in C. burnetii, classified as a category B critical biologic agent, as a biological weapon and terror agent.
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© 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc
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Miller, J.D., Shaw, E.I., Thompson, H.A. (2006). Coxiella burnetii, Q Fever, and Bioterrorism. In: Anderson, B., Friedman, H., Bendinelli, M. (eds) Microorganisms and Bioterrorism. Infectious Agents and Pathogenesis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-28159-2_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-28159-2_10
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