COXIELLA-BURNETII INFECTION AMONG SUBJECTS INFECTED WITH HIV TYPE-1 IN THE CENTRAL-AFRICAN-REPUBLIC

Sixty-six sera from HIV-1-seropositive adult African subjects and 49 s era from HIV-seronegative age and sex matched healthy African controls living in Bangui, Central African Republic, were screened for Coxiell a burnetii antibody by an indirect immunofluorescent antibody test. 16 .7 % of HIV-infected patients and 16.3 % of the HIV-negative controls had positive IgG titres, with no significant difference between the tw o groups. Two of the seven HIV-infected patients seropositive for Coxi ella burnetii for whom clinical data was available had a medical histo ry compatible with symptomatic Q fever. These findings indicate that t here is a high degree of exposure to Coxiella burnetii infection in Ba ngui. In individuals co-infected with HIV and Coxiella burnetii, cellu lar immunosuppression could favour symptomatic Q fever. Physicians sho uld be aware of the possibility of symptomatic Coxiella burnetii infec tion among HIV-infected people, particularly in endemic regions for bo th infections such as in sub-saharan Africa.