Q fever

query fever

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Q fever n a disease that is characterized by high fever, chills, muscular pains, headache, and sometimes pneumonia, that is caused by a rickettsial bacterium of the genus Coxiella (C. burnetii) of which domestic animals serve as reservoirs, and that is transmitted to humans esp. by inhalation of infective airborne bacteria (as in contaminated dust)

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an acute infectious disease of many animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, deer, and dogs, that is caused by a rickettsiae, Coxiella burnetii; it can be transmitted to humans primarily through inhalation of infected particles or consumption of contaminated unpasteurized milk but also via ticks, which can act as vectors. After an incubation period of up to three weeks a severe influenza-like illness develops, sometimes with pneumonia. The disease lasts about two weeks; treatment with tetracyclines or chloramphenicol is effective. See also typhus.

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an acute, generally self-limited infection caused by Coxiella burnetii, characterized by fever, chills, headache, myalgia, malaise, and occasionally rash, and sometimes complicated by mild pneumonia (Q fever pneumonia, q.v.), hepatitis, and endocarditis. In humans, it is usually acquired by inhalation of airborne organisms in dust or aerosols contaminated by infected domestic animals, with no vector involved in transmission. Called also Australian Q f. and nine-mile f.