Q FEVER

[librarian]

I have been helping with the calving on another farm because the owner had heart surgery.
This farm has a history of stupid calves that won't suck. Atypical for Angus.
Anyway, there was a new calf in the pasture suffocating in the sac as the cow licked the wrong end. I pulled the sac off , got splashed with a lot of amniotic fluid, and pulled the calf free. Then the cow took over, I wiped my hands on my pants and went back to looking for new calves.
A couple weeks later I start getting chills and have to go to bed. I lay in bed for a week with chills fever, sweats, nausea and headache, thinking it will go away. Finally a friend from out west says, hey go to the doctor, you might have Q fever. I never heard of it and the doctors here thought I was crazy to think I might have it. Yesterday the blood work came back positive.
Moral: Don't mess around (like me) if you have those symptoms.

 

[Gargan]

Wow. Did you get better in time without any meds?

 

[justintime]

I have never heard of Q fever in North America. The only countries I know of that require embryos and semen be tested for Q fever, is New Zealand and a few African countries. I was always told it is a disease that affects mainly sheep, but I have no idea what the symptoms are. I can see a little reading coming up in my future! And a visit with Mr.Google as well.

 

[CAB]

  Link to info about Q Fever below

http://www.medicinenet.com/q_fever/article.htm

 

[librarian]

Gargan, No, I was only going to get worse. I have not been to the doctor for any kind of sickness in 30 years and I wasn't planning on going this time. Just lucky someone suggested Q fever and I read up on it. I am stubborn but not that stubborn. The doctor immediately put me on 30 days of antibiotics, maybe more before it's over. I'm doing pretty good now. I just imagine there may be others like me out there working with livestock that don't normally think that running off to the doctor is going to do any good. But we learn all kinds of stuff on SP that helps in daily life.http://www.cdc.gov/qfever/index.html

 

[cowboy_nyk]

Scary.  Thanks for sharing.  Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Lucky_P]

Thanks for the heads-up, librarian.
Q Fever is more widespread than most producers - and probably most veterinarians - realize.
I see occasional Coxiella abortions in cattle coming through the diagnostic laboratory here - but it's one of the more common causes of abortion that we see in small ruminants (goats/sheep). 
It's of enough concern that we're being encouraged by our accrediting agency to designate tissues/fluids from  abortion cases - especially from small ruminants - as "High Risk Specimens", because of the risk of human disease following exposure.

Have a veterinary colleague who contracted Q Fever in the course of doing a diagnostic necropsy on a small ruminant abortion case, 4 years ago; she had to battle the physicians to consider testing for it.  She's still not back to 100%...

Coxiella burnetti, the causative agent of Q Fever...Infectious dose is ONE organism/spore; usual route of infection is via inhalation of aerosolized spores in dust or spray.

 

[bs372280]

My father actually picked up Q-fever in the early 2000's.  He got real sick, chills, and every joint ached.  After 2 months of the doctors running around, he went to Iowa City and found what the cause was.  They put him on a heavy dose of steroids and he had a real tough time weaning off the medication. 

 

[librarian]

Q Fever seems to be an occupational hazard of working with livestock. Perhaps sheep and goats more than cattle. Because it was weaponized during the Cold War and is classified as a bioterrorism agent, paperwork is required with county health depts in the case of a positive diagnosis.
https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzlNgS70OHAC&lpg=PA235&ots=qab-WnkPLX&dq=q%20fever%20weaponize&pg=PA235#v=onepage&q=q%20fever%20weaponize&f=false
If you have the symptoms, be prepared for doctors to resist diagnosing Q Fever. Seeing an infectious disease specialist was required by the county in my case. He dismissed the blood work as a false positive result (on statistical improbability) and recommended I quit the antibiotics. I did not quit the antibiotics. Follow up blood work (required by the county) again showed strong positive results, but no one informed me and I had to chase down the results. Usually one will eventually recover without treatment...unless it evolves into a chronic and debilitating form. (uncommon) so taking the antibiotics is a good idea to whip it and going to the doctor is a good idea. Just ASK for the specific test, even though they will tell you you don't have it.
However, and they did not tell me this, the antibiotics they prescribe can cause a bad reaction to sunlight...similar to a chemical burn. I got this on my hands when I got well enough to go outside and back to work. I still have it. This has not given me a lot of confidence in these particular doctors. Anyway, I survived, despite the experts.

 

[frostback]

Do you remember the pair that you helped that day? Or is there a test for the cattle to see if this herd has it? Is there a vaccine for livestock? Might get farther asking a Vet for help more then the doctors.

 

[Lucky_P]

We use histologic exam and PCR for diagnosis of C. burnetti infection on tissue samples at our lab (breathitt.murraystate.edu);
Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab offers serologic test; we send clients' serum samples out to TVMDL when we need a serologic test result.

No Coxiella vaccine available in the USA, to my knowledge.  Don't know if any of the biologics manufacturers are pursuing licensure for any here, though there are some available elsewhere in the world...but getting past the hurdles imposed by FDA and USDA is a costly and maddening process.

 

[librarian]

I agree that vets may be more helpful than physicians. The physicians insist I got it from a tick bite and the county has decided Q Fever infected ticks are moving into this region.
The fact that I had every kind of birth fluid all over my hands seems unrelated, in their opinion.
I got my information from a cattleman, and I think it will be the livestock producing community that raises awareness among producers about the symptoms and consequences.
The other interested party is the military, so there may be a vaccine.
Under most circumstances, it's just a really bad flu like episode, pneumonia being the primary concern. But the age demographic of reported cases brings the issue of heart valve complications into the forefront for many of us. So, yes, ask your vet if it's around, although my particular vet doesn't seem too interested in testing the cattle and was also dubious about the diagnosis. I'm going to talk to a state vet.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/pentagon-develop-q-fever-vaccine-us-military-focus-biological-weapons-defense-263032
Long after the U.S. officially dropped its chemical and biological weapons program in 1969, some troops returned home from deployment to Iraq had contracted the infectious disease, caused by Coxiella burnetii. “Approximately 200 cases of acute Q fever were reported in U.S. personnel who had been deployed to Iraq since 2003,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevnetion reports. “Investigation of these cases linked illness to tick bites, sleeping in barns, and living in helicopter zones with environmental exposure from helicopter-generated aerosols.”

Although mistaken about other weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, American intelligence services believed Saddam Hussein had at one point attempted to weaponize the virus, classified by the CDC as a class B bioterrorism agent — one that’s fairly easy to disseminate but not as lethal as anthrax or smallpox.

What makes Q fever potentially dastardly is its low profile, with symptoms so subtle they might be missed: fever, fatigue, and muscle pains. Not intended to decimate, the weaponized disease sickens and slows an enemy, degrading his capability over months or even as long as several years.