It multiplies in the phagolysosome, where it exists due to its ability to resist the killing mechanisms of the phagesome. Q fever is the one rickettsial disease that does not need an arthropod vector for transmission. The organism is common in cattle, sheep, and goats, and exists in high concentration in urine and feces of these animals.
Cats are also a potential reservoir.
The organism is unusually stable for an intracellular parasite, apparantly because it can synthesize a spore-like cell variant. It is transmitted to humans by inhalation.