EPRS1 and Q fever: The QpRS plasmid was never identified in any acute Q fever strain but no specific geographic association was identified as the 63 QpRS plasmid-positive strains in our study were identified in several countries (49 in France, six in the USA, two in Spain, two in Russia, one in French Guiana, one in Senegal, one in the United Kingdom, one in Uzbekistan).