Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T08:12:08.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Q fever in South Australia: an outbreak in a meat-works

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

Margaret D. Beech ,
A. E. Duxbury  and
Peter Warner
Margaret D. Beech
Affiliation:
The Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, Australia
A. E. Duxbury
Affiliation:
The Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, Australia
Peter Warner
Affiliation:
The Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper consists of an epidemiological study of 52 cases of Q fever occurring in metropolitan Adelaide in 1957 and also a description of the results of a survey of 516 sera obtained from abattoir workers.

The only case occurring outside the abattoirs was a dairy farmer who probably became infected while visiting the abattoirs. If this were so the incubation period (35 days) of his disease would have been exceptionally long.

The general features of the outbreak, which lasted several months, differed from those on the North American continent in that the latter occurred explosively within a few days with very high attack rates. The situation in the Adelaide abattoirs is similar to that in Brisbane, where the disease appears to be endemic. However, unlike in Adelaide, cases are commonly recognized outside the abattoirs in Brisbane.

In the abattoirs the disease affected mainly inspectors, those working on killing beef, and those working on offal. Mutton workers were not so severely affected. However, all these groups had similar incidences of low titre antibodies suggesting that in the past Q fever spread equally in all killing departments. In departments not directly associated with slaughtering the incidence both of cases in 1957 and low titre antibodies was relatively small.

It was suggested that the epidemiological features of Q fever in Adelaide could be explained by the irregular appearance of animals from infected herds situated perhaps in Queensland—a known endemic area. Perhaps the appearance of such animals in the Adelaide abattoirs might be governed by meteorological conditions such that they were prevented from going to the ordinarily most convenient slaughterhouse.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , March 1962 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1962

References

REFERENCES

Ann. Rep. (1953–1954). Inst. Med. and Vet. Sci., Adelaide, S. Australia, p. 45.Google Scholar
Beech, Margaret D. & Dane, D. M. S. (1954–1955). Virus antigens. Ann. Rep. Inst. Med. and Vet. Sci. p. 40.Google Scholar
Dane, D. M. S. & Beech, Margaret D. (1954–1955). Q fever. Ann. Rep. Inst. Med. and Vet. Sci. p. 37.Google Scholar
Dekking, F. & Zanen, H. C. (1958). Q fever in the Netherlands. Topical and Geographical Medicine, 10, 157.Google ScholarPubMed
Derrick, E. H. (1937). Q fever, a new fever entity. Med. J. Aust. no. 2, 281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derrick, E. H. (1944) The epidemiology of Q fever. J. Hyg., Camb., 43, 357.Google ScholarPubMed
Derrick, E. H., Pope, J. H. & Smith, D. J. W. (1959). Outbreaks of Q fever in Queensland associated with sheep. Med. J. Aust. no. 1, 585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luoto, L. & Huebner, R. J. (1950). Q fever studies in California. IX. Isolation of Q fever organisms from parturient placentas of naturally infected dairy cows. U.S. Public Hlth Rep. 65, 541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmion, B. P. & Harvey, M. S. (1956). The varying epidemiology of Q fever in the south-east region of Great Britain. I. In an urban area. J. Hyg., Camb., 54, 533.Google Scholar
Marmion, B. P. & Stoker, M. G. P. (1956). The varying epidemiology of Q fever in the south-east region of Great Britain. II. In two rural areas. J. Hyg., Camb., 54, 547.Google Scholar
Marmion, B. P., Stoker, M. G. P., Walker, C. B. V. & Carpenter, R. G. (1956). Q fever in Great Britain. Epidemiological information from a serological survey of healthy adults in East Anglia. J. Hyg., Camb., 54, 118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pavilanis, V., Duval, L., Foley, A. R. & L'Heureux, M. (1958). An epidemic of Q fever at Princeville, Quebec. Canad. J. publ. Hlth, 48, 520.Google Scholar
Robbins, F. C., Gauld, R. L. & Warner, F. B. (1946). Q fever in the Mediterranean area: report of its occurrence in allied troops. II. Epidemiology. Amer. J. Hyg. 44, 23.Google Scholar
Shepard, C. C. (1947). An outbreak of Q fever in a Chicago packing house. Amer. J. Hyg. 46, 185.Google Scholar
Siegert, R., Simrock, W. & Stroder, U. (1950). Über einen epidemischen Ausbruch von Q-fieber in einem Krankenhaus. Z. Tropenmed. Parasit. 2, 1.Google Scholar
Stoker, M. G. P. & Marmion, B. P. (1955). The spread of Q fever from animals to man. Bull. World Hlth Org. 13, 781.Google ScholarPubMed
Stokes, Joan (1950). Q fever in South Australia. I. Isolation of causative organism from four cases and its identification as Rickettsia Burneti. Med. J. Aust. no. 2, 745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, Joan (1953). Q fever in South Australia. II. Surveys of human and bovine sera. Med. J. Aust. no. 2, 778.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tonge, J. I. (1955). Q fever. Ann. Rep. Hlth and Med. Services, Queensland, 1954–1955, p. 90.Google Scholar
Tonge, J. I. & Derrick, E. H. (1959). A fatal case of Q fever associated with hepatic necrosis. Med. J. Aust. no. 1, 594.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Topping, N. H., Shepard, C. C. & Irons, J. V. (1947). Q fever in the United States. I. Epidemiological studies of an outbreak among stockhandlers and slaughterhouse workers. J. Amer. med. Ass. 133, 813.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Welsh, H. H., Lennette, E. H., Abinanti, F. R. & Winn, J. F. (1951). Q fever in California. IV. Occurrence of Coxiella Burneti in the placenta of naturally infected sheep. U.S. Publ. Hlth Rep. 66, 1473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, H. H., Lennette, E. H., Abinanti, F. R. & Winn, J. F. (1958). Air-borne transmission of Q fever: the role of parturition in the generation of infective aerosols. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 70, 528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed