Q Fever in Greenland

• Main Authors: Anders Koch, Claus Bo Svendsen, Jens Jørgen Christensen, Henning Bundgaard, Lars Vindfeld, Claus Bohn Christiansen, Michael Kemp, Steen Villumsen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Ammassalik; Isortoq; walrus*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.270.7216

cats. Sea mammals include seals and walruses. Polar bears are abundant throughout eastern Greenland; the nearest sheep, horses, and musk oxen are>1,000 km away. There are no cows and goats in Greenland. We report a patient with Q fever endocarditis in a settlement in eastern Greenland (Isortoq, Ammassalik area). Likely animal sources include sled dogs and seals. Q fever may be underdiagnosed in Arctic areas but may also represent an emerging infection. fever is a zoonosis caused by the small intracellular Q bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Main reservoirs for this bacterium are cattle, goats, and sheep, although a wide range of animals may be infected (1,2). C. burnetii can survive in a spore-like form under harsh conditions (2). In animals, C. burnetii infection is often latent; the