Cause: Bacterium Coxiella burnetii.
Illness and treatment: Acute Q fever symptoms are fevers, chills, retrobulbar headache, malaise, weakness, and severe sweats. Chronic Q fever manifests primarily as endocarditis. Treatment is with antibiotics.
Sources: The most common reservoirs are sheep, cattle, and goats. Infected animals are usually asymptomatic, but shed the organism in birth products as well as urine, feces, and milk. A common exposure mechanism is inhalation of dust from premises contaminated by placental tissues, birth fluids, or excreta of infected animals.
Prevention: Consume only pasteurized milk and dairy products. Appropriately dispose of animal birth products. Restrict access to barns and facilities housing potentially infected animals.
Recent Washington trends: Each year there are 0 to 2 reports.
Purpose of Reporting and Surveillance
- To identify the source of infection (e.g., an outbreak at a rendering plant or farm) and prevent further transmission from that source to others.
- To educate potentially exposed persons about signs and symptoms of disease, thereby facilitating early diagnosis.
Legal Reporting Requirements
- Health care providers and Health care facilities: notifiable to local health jurisdiction within 24 hours.
- Laboratories: notifiable to local health jurisdiction within 24 hours; submission required – specimen associated with a presumptive positive result, within 2 business days
- Veterinarians: Suspected human cases notifiable within 24 hours to the local health jurisdiction; animal cases notifiable to Washington State Department of Agriculture (see: https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=16-70)
- Local health jurisdictions: notifiable to DOH Office of Communicable Disease Epidemiology (CDE) within 7 days of case investigation completion or summary information required within 21 days.