Q Fever and Animals
Q Fever fact sheet
Coxiella burnetii in Bulk Tank Milk Samples, United
States link to a CDC article
The following article was taken from The Colorado
Veterinary Medical Association newsletter "Voice" volume 2006 issue
# 2. It is a report from the
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on an episode
of Q fever from a goat herd in Colorado.
In late 2005, CDPHE began investigating a cluster of human
cases
associated with a 360-head goat herd maintained at a horse
boarding
ranch. During spring birthing, approximately 20 percent of
the nannies
aborted or delivered stillbirths. A woman caring for a pair
of ill
newborn goats subsequently became ill and was diagnosed with Q
fever. A
cohort study of 68 horse boarders and ranchers was conducted
with
interviews of 66 (97%) persons, of whom 38 (58%) were tested
for
antibodies to C. Burnetii. Twenty (53%) of these people were
shown to
have been recently infected (19 probable cases and one confirmed
case).
Of these 20, ten (50%) reported compatible symptoms since May 1,
2005;
ten were asymptomatic. Various forms of goat contact were
significantly
associated with infection, including feeding goats, contact
with
newborns, contact with stillbirths or newborn goats that
subsequently
died, pulling goats during the birthing process, and vaccinating
goats
against Chlamydia done during the kidding season. Risk
increased when
multiple contacts were reported.
Of 40 environmental soil samples collected,
9(23%) were confirmed
positive and another 13(33%) presumptively positive. Two
confirmed
positive specimens were the dried placentas collected from a
horse
stall. Of 21 milk samples and 51 vaginal swabs collected from
51 goats,
two (3%) samples - one milk and one vaginal swab from two
different
goats - were confirmed positive. Another 5(7%) were
presumptively
positive; three of these were milk samples and two were vaginal
swabs.
Due to the high rate of seropositivity in
persons with goat contact
at the ranch, the high percentage of positive soil samples and
the
potential for Q fever to be disseminated by wind, a community
serosurvey
was conducted. All households within one mile of the herd
were
contacted and 159 persons agreed to submit blood samples. Of
these 13
(8%) had evidence of recent infection; six reported a
compatible
illness. Analysis of this preliminary data is ongoing.
A CSU
veterinary pathologist is conducting additional studies on
goats
involved in this outbreak. One discovery during this
investigation was
the lack of published literature on how to treat or manage a Q
fevere
infected herd. Dr. John Pape, epidemiologist, Colorado
Department of
Public Health and Environment
