Q fever outbreak in Slovakia

 An outbreak of Q fever in humans occurred in the village of Ráztočno, Prievidza district, Slovakia, representing the first local human cases in more than three decades. The outbreak was first reported in late July 2025, when at least 11 Ráztočno residents in the Prievidza district were hospitalised with pneumonia and elevated liver enzymes. Shortly afterwards, health authorities confirmed the diagnosis of Q fever, an infectious disease typically transmitted from livestock to humans by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii.Initial investigations carried out on farms in the area did not identify the source of the infections. Despite extensive efforts such as veterinarians inspecting large and small farms, as well as searching for unregistered farms in the area, the source of the Q fever outbreak had not been identified by the end of August 2025.
The last documented Q fever outbreak in Slovakia occurred in Jedľové Kostoľany in the Zlaté Moravce district in 1993 and was successfully controlled. This outbreak was linked livestock giving birth on open pastures.

Original articles:
Slovak Academy of Sciences vom 05.08.2025 (englisch)
The Slovak Spectator vom 07.08.2025 (englisch)
TERAZ.SK vom 27.08.25 (slovakisch)
„Photo von PublicDomainPicture über Pixabay"

Q Fever in Small Ruminants-Encyclopedia of Livestock Medicine for Large Animal and Poultry Production

 The latest findings from the Q-GAPS Consortium were compiled into an article for an international encyclopaedia in collaboration with an Australian representative of the local Q Fever Consortium (QFIG).

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New Q fever flyers in Portuguese/ Novos folhetos sobre a febre Q em português

 Three new flyers providing information about Q fever and highlighting important precautionary measures are now available in Portuguese. The materials are aimed at different target groups:

Estão agora disponíveis três novos folhetos em português que fornecem informações sobre a febre Q e salientam medidas de precaução importantes. Os materiais destinam-se a diferentes grupos-alvo:

Flyer for Animal Owners & Veterinarians/Folheto para veterinários e donos de animais:
Q Fever – A Risk for Humans and Animals/Febre Q – Um Risco para Humanos e Animais

Flyer for medical doctors/Folheto para Médicos:
Q fever - More than a flu /Febre Q – Mais do que apenas uma Infecção gripal

Flyer for the general public/Folheto para o público:
Q fever - More than a flu/Febre Q – Mais do que apenas uma Infecção gripal

Flyers have already been produced in English and French as part of the Q-GAPS project. With these new Portuguese versions, we aim to make important health information accessible to an even wider international audience.

No âmbito do projeto Q-GAPS, já foram produzidos folhetos em inglês e francês. Com as novas versões em português, pretendemos contribuir para tornar informações importantes sobre saúde mais acessíveis a um público internacional mais vasto.

Download Flyer for Animal Owners & Veterinarians/Folheto para veterinários e donos de animais

Download Flyer for medical doctors/Folheto para Médicos

Download Flyer for the general public/Folheto para o público

QFIG

 The Australian Q fever interest group (QFIG) is an expert group of interested clinicians, microbiologists, public health physicians, veterinarians and researchers. It was in October 2021 in response to broad support for improved understanding of the natural history of the disease in the local context. Greater understanding is sought on geospatial and temporal differences including climate impacts, trends in potential exposure factors for those without traditional risk factors, proportion of cases and risk factors for progression to chronic Q fever or post Q fever fatigue syndrome, diagnostic markers for development of and therapeutic monitoring for chronic disease, and comparison with international data sets. QFIG aims to establish a prospective, longitudinal Australian Q Fever clinical registry for this purpose.
More information on QFIG can be found here.

New Q fever Flyers in French/Nouvelles brochures de la fièvre Q en français

 Background of the project

 In 2021, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) called for the initiation of an international collaboration programme in the field of public health between scientists from sub-Saharan Africa and Germany.
The aim of the initiative is for participating researchers to identify joint interests in the area of public health and initiate new collaborative ventures.

Thus, the project "Detection of tick-borne bacterial and viral pathogens in ticks, livestock and wildlife in Benin: a chance to establish One Health concepts in veterinary and human medicine", initiated by Institute of Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany, Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany in cooperation with the Communicable Diseases Research Unit, Department of Production and Animal Health, University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Godomey, Benin, was initiated.

As the Q-GAPS consortium has already published Q fever flyers in German and English, the idea emerged to create an African-related flyer for Benin in French.

Download flyer "La Fièvre Q - Plus qu'un état grippal (population)"

Download flyer "Informations sur la fièvre Q chez les humains & les petits ruminants"

Download flyer "La Fièvre Q - Plus qu'un état grippal (médicins)"

Q fever case spike in Queensland, Australia drives renewed push for more accessible vaccine for "nasty" bacterial disease

 Queensland, Australia health experts have been mystified by an unusual spike in cases of Q fever. There have been 89 reported infections across the state so far this year, an increase of almost 90 per cent on the same time in 2023. Townsville's Public Health Unit director Dr Steven Donohue said that the current case numbers were unusually high in light of the recent wet summer.

The surge in cases has sparked renewed calls for a more accessible and affordable vaccine. Q-Vax is the only vaccination for Q fever in the world and is only available in Australia. It is recommended for people aged 15 years and older whose work involves contact with high-risk animals such as abattoir employees, shearers, vets, and animal refuge workers. But Dr Donohue said he would like to see a wider take up of the vaccine.

Dr Steven Graves (Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory) said the current vaccine, while effective, was expensive and inaccessible. Dr Graves and his team were tasked with creating a new and improved vaccine in 2020. He hopes it will be available to the public, including children, in the next five years.

Adapted from www.abc.net.au (March, 14, 2024)

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Interdisciplinary studies on Coxiella burnetii: From molecular to cellular, to host, to one health research

Highlights 

• The Q-GAPS consortium investigated Q fever based on the One Health approach.

• Molecular, cellular, host, and One Health aspects were studied.

• The Web-based platform CoxBase was developed for genomic analysis of C. burnetii.

• Strategies for the treatment and monitoring of Q fever were developed

• All findings are freely accessible from an information database (www.q-gaps.de)

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of tasks, goals, and networking of the interdisciplinary Q-GAPS (Q fever GermAn interdisciplinary Program for reSearch) consortium. Q-GAPS is a multidisciplinary network of scientists dedicated to implementing the One Health approach. Q-GAPS aims to support the public health and veterinary communities in preventing and controlling Q fever.

Extracted from original publication: Interdisciplinary studies on Coxiella burnetii: From molecular to cellular, to host, to one health research, Bauer et al., International Journal of Medical Microbiology 313 (2023), doi:10.1016/j.ijmm.2023.151590.

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Flyer for Animal Owners and Veterinarians "Q Fever – A Risk for Humans and Animals. Information on Q Fever in Humans and Small Ruminants" available for download in English now

Q fever is a zoonosis caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii and particularly transferred by birth fluids and the afterbirth of infected sheep/goats posing a risk to human and animal health. This flyer intends to provide information to animal owners and vets on how to deal with infections in your herd/flock and to prevent further spreading of the disease.

Suspected Q fever in my flock or herd – which measures should I take as owner?

 Q fever is a notifiable animal disease in Germany and a zoonosis caused by the bacterium Coxiella (C.) burnetii. In particular, the pathogen is transferred by birth fluids and the afterbirth of infected sheep/goats and is a risk for human and animal health. If there is shedding of the bacterium by animals, it is important to prevent further spreading to other animals and humans in particular.

An infection with C. burnetii can be asymptomatic especially in sheep. Thus, an early detection of the pathogen in the flock/herd is often difficult for livestock owners.

Therefore, it is even more important to take the following Q fever symptoms in ruminants seriously:

Abortion and stillbirth 
 Birth of weak lambs/kids/calves
Retarded expulsion of the afterbirth

In the event of a suspected case your veterinarian can initiate diagnostics for Q fever. The most sensitive and meaningful test for verifying a C. burnetii infection is direct detection of gene material (DNA) of the pathogen by means molecular analysis of afterbirth material, dead lambs/kids/calves, vaginal swabs or preputial swabs.

At least the following measures should be taken when Q fever occurs in your flock/herd:

• Make sure births and shearing occur in closed premises.

• Store all after birth material immediately in a closed container until it is disposed of by animal by-products processing plants (rendering plants). The container should be cleaned and disinfected after having been emptied.

• Clean and disinfect your working clothes as well as your working material.

• Inform your colleagues and family members about necessary protective and hygiene measures.

• Post a sign near your stables: „Valuable livestock – Do Not Enter. Authorized Personnel Only."

• Prevent non-authorized people from getting access to your animals.

• Don't offer raw milk or raw milk products to consumers and stand down from drinking raw milk and eating raw milk products.

• Important: The process of pasteurisation results in inactivation of the pathogen.

• Store the dung for 9 months underneath foil as well as apart from any population, before you spread it on the fields.

• Have your herd/flock vaccinated against C. burnetii.

Tip (Germany): Please consult your Animal Diseases Fund (Tierseuchenkasse) for support for vaccination costs.

For further information please read our FAQs.

New Flyer "Q Fever – More than a flu" Information for the general population on Q Fever in humans available for download

Q fever can be easily mixed up with a summer flu, as the disease often begins with high temperature up to 40 degrees Celsius, chills, head aches, aching limbs and weariness. The disease which is transferred among others by sheep and goats is rarely identified. However, the effects of an unidentified infection can be potentially severe and even deadly. Another frequently neglected consequence of acute infection can be a Post Q Fever Fatigue Syndrome.