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Q Fever Essay

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Q fever in abattoir workers

What is Q fever?
Q fever is a ubiquitous zoonotic disease caused by the organism Coxiella burnetii, which is an obligate gram-negative intracellular bacterium.1 The disease was first described in Brisbane, Australia in the 1930s where there was an outbreak of respiratory illness in abattoir workers.2 Q fever is a notifiable disease in all states and territories in Australia. The organism has been identified in a wide range of domestic and wild animal hosts including birds, arthropods, marsupials, rodents and livestock, but by far the most common reservoirs are sheep, cattle and goats.3

The pathogenesis of C. burnetii is unusual in that it undergoes a biphasic life cycle generating a spore-like form that is extremely …show more content…

National Q fever vaccination program (NQFMP) in Australia
A nationally funded vaccination program for Q fever was introduced to Australia in 2002 with the aim of reducing Q fever morbidity in at-risk personnel.12 The program included the cost of the vaccine itself, as well as pre-screening to determine those already sensitised to Q fever antigens.

Phase one of the NQFMP was specifically targeted towards abattoir workers and sheep shearers.12 Followed by the second phase, which expanded to include sheep and cattle farmers, their family members and employees working on the farms. Program uptake varied from almost 100% amongst abattoir workers to only 43% in farmers.

Subsequent Q fever notification and hospitalisation rates following the implementation of the vaccination program declined by more than 50% between 2002 and 2006 to the lowest levels on record (Fig. 1).12 The greatest decline occurred in young adult males, which typically make up majority of the abattoir

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