Q FEVER IN THE UNITED STATES

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Abstract
The preceding papers of this series deal with the clinical, epidemiologic and serologic observations concerning an outbreak of Q fever that occurred in 1946 among stock handlers and slaughterhouse workers in Amarillo, Texas. The present report deals with the isolation and identification of the causative agent, Rickettsia burneti1 (Rickettsia diaporica,2 Coxiella burneti3), from the serums of 2 patients, T. E. M.4 and R. W.,5 both white men employed by the Western Stock Yards and the Pinkney Packing Company, respectively. EXPERIMENTAL Passage in Dilute Brown Agouti (dba) Mice.— Serum samples obtained from T. E. M. and R. W. during the acute phase of their illness on March 22 and 25, respectively, were diluted 1: 10 with sterile isotonic solution of sodium chloride and inoculated in 0.5 cc. amounts into 4 mice of the dilute brown agouti strain (2 for each serum) by the intraperitoneal route. In