Bacterium
Coxiella burnetii
Q fever, aerosol zoonosis, no vector needed
kok-see-EL-uh bur-NEH-tee-eye
High-yield clue
Q fever from inhaled aerosols of livestock birth products (no arthropod vector needed for humans) is the classic Coxiella clue.
Overview
An obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that causes Q fever; it forms a resistant spore-like small-cell variant and is typically acquired by inhaling aerosols from farm animals rather than by an arthropod bite.
Classification
- Gram-negative
- Coccobacillus
- Coxiellaceae
- Obligate intracellular
- Spore-like small-cell variant
Lab & identification clues
- Obligate intracellular growth vocabulary
- Spore-like environmental resistance concept
- Phase I / phase II antigen serology vocabulary
- Very low infectious dose framing
Associations
- Cattle, sheep, goat birthing-aerosol transmission vocabulary
- Acute febrile pneumonia/hepatitis presentation vocabulary
- Chronic Q fever endocarditis association
Commonly confused with
- Brucella species
- Rickettsia species
Your notes
Original student-study summary. Sources checked: OpenStax Microbiology 2e, NCBI Bookshelf Medical Microbiology, and CDC topic pages where applicable; reviewed 2026-06. Educational only; no diagnosis, treatment, dosing, or specimen-handling guidance.