What are the symptoms of Q fever?
People can have Q fever without knowing it or mistake it for mild influenza. Often, it is impossible to tell if the illness is Q fever without laboratory tests.
Sometimes, Q fever strikes as a sudden illness, affecting a large number of people in the same workplace. Common signs and symptoms resemble a serious case of the flu:
Some patients develop a slight, dry cough because of a lung inflammation known as pneumonitis. Most symptoms disappear after 7-10 days. However, afflicted people can feel generally ill and lose appetite for several weeks.
A small percentage of patients develop hepatitis or liver disease and jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and darkening of the urine, caused by a malfunctioning of the liver.
Other rare clinical syndromes including endocarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart cavity, have been reported.
There may be regional differences in the way the disease presents itself. It is not clear why, but animal studies suggest different strains may be a factor.
- context sudden onset of high fever
- context fatigue
- context muscle pain
- context chills and sweating
- context headache
- context general feeling of sickness and loss of appetite
- context non-productive cough
- context weight loss
- context stomach pain
- context chest pain
Is Q fever an occupational concern?
Q fever is an occupational concern for workers who are in contact with animals, animal products, or animal waste. Those workers with heart problems or suppressed immune systems are at higher risk.
Workers can get Q fever from a variety of different animals:
Blood-sucking ticks spread the Q fever microbe to wild animals, but seldom to humans. Farm livestock, laboratory animals, and pets however can pick up Q fever directly from other infected animals or from contaminated surroundings.
Q fever is a special concern with pregnant animals, especially around the time they give birth or abort because of the disease. In pregnant animals, the Q fever microbe builds up to enormous numbers in certain tissues and fluids. These include:
These microbes become airborne in tiny droplets of mists or aerosols and spread to workers:
After giving birth, animals usually eat their placenta and other afterbirth tissues. When this happens, the Q fever microbes survive digestion. They pass along the animal's intestine and become discharged with the manure. This discharge allows Q fever to spread widely throughout the environment.
The Q fever microbe easily becomes airborne with dust from infected animal tissues, manure, urine, or soil. As a result, workers can become exposed to Q fever by contacting various infected materials such as
- context wild animals
- context farm livestock - especially cattle, sheep, and goats
- context laboratory animals - especially sheep
- context household pets - especially cats
- context the uterus or womb,
- context the placenta, which surrounds the offspring in the womb,
- context the mammary glands or udders,
- context birth fluids, and
- context milk.
- context when animals give birth,
- context touching a newborn animal,
- context during the processing of infected tissues from slaughtered animals,
- context at milking or during the processing of milk, or
- context during animal surgery.
- context dust from animals, bedding, or manure,
- context soil near animal pens,
- context animal hides, wool, and furs, and
- context clothes from workers who were exposed to infected animals or materials.
What occupations are at increased risk for Q fever?
Q fever spreads easily throughout agricultural regions, affecting anyone who works outdoors and is in contact with infected soil or dust. Airborne particles containing the Q fever microbe may be carried downwind for a considerable distance - 0.8 kilometres (0.5 miles) or more.
Q fever also spreads easily within buildings from room to room. Workers in research facilities can catch Q fever even if they only visit a contaminated room or hallway once or twice.
Medical staff do not normally get Q fever from infected patients.
Some of the occupations at increased risk for Q fever include the following:
- context farmers, ranchers, and farm workers in contact with cattle, sheep, and goats,
- context stockyard workers, truck drivers, personnel who service the trucks, and visitors to animal auctions,
- context meat packers, rendering plant workers, hide and wool handlers,
- context hunters and trappers,
- context laboratory animal researchers and support staff,
- context workers who care for pets and livestock--veterinary personnel, pet shop workers and zoo attendants, and
- context certain groups of medical and health care personnel who have contact with blood, sputum or tissue from infected patients.
How can we prevent Q fever in the workplace?
The Q fever microbe should be eliminated from animals for the most effective prevention. Eradication programs, however, are not yet available because Q fever spreads so effectively among animals.
Workers who have even remote contact with animals, animal products, and animal waste should be informed about the disease, its characteristics, and the nature of the risk. Workers who start jobs with an increased risk of Q fever should be offered blood tests to determine if they have resistance to Q fever. The possibility of Q fever should be investigated in high-risk workers who develop an unexplained feverish illness, especially if lung infections develop. Q fever is a reportable disease in most Canadian jurisdictions.
The risk of infection from the workplace can be reduced by:
- requirement vaccination of workers where available,
- requirement personal precautions, and
- requirement workplace hygiene.