Clinical characteristics of Q fever and etiology of community-acquired pneumonia in a tropical region of southern Taiwan: a prospective observational study.

Background The clinical characteristics of Q fever are poorly identified in the tropics. Fever with pneumonia or hepatitis are the dominant presentations of acute Q fever, which exhibits geographic variability. In southern Taiwan, which is located in a tropical region, the role of Q fever in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has never been investigated.