The rare Q fever has been detected in Lower Saxony. Several people are already infected. All about the symptoms and treatment.
Lüneburg – The rare Q fever has been detected in Amt Neuhaus in the Lüneburg district. The disease has already been diagnosed in several people. Symptoms of fever are non-specific and vary from person to person.
Q fever infects several people in Lower Saxony
As the Lüneburg district reports, several people are in Lower Saxony already been infected, which is why there is to be an information event on March 8, 2023 about the rare Q fever. The head of the Lüneburg Health Office and experts from the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety and the Bernhard Nocht Institute in Hamburg will provide information there.
Rare disease in the district of Lüneburg: What is Q fever?
Q fever is, according to the Q GAPS (German interdisciplinary Q fever research program) is a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans. In veterinary medicine, Q fever is also referred to as coxiellosis and is a disease caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Humans can become infected by inhaling droplets or dust from animals. Direct contact with animals is not absolutely necessary.
Animals such as sheep, goats and cattle in particular can transmit Q fever via their excretion products. Pets and wild animals could also be infected and excrete the pathogen – although according to Q-GAPS transmission to humans has been described very rarely.
Pneumonia and liver inflammation: These are the symptoms of Q fever
The symptoms of Q fever are, according to the Q GAPS rather unspecific and could be compared to those of influenza. About one to three weeks after infection, about 40 percent of those infected would experience symptoms such as fever, body aches and chills, severe frontal headaches and fatigue. In addition, around ten percent of those affected can develop pneumonia and liver inflammation. Rarely, the infection also leads to heart muscle or pericarditis and meningitis.
Rare disease: how common is Q fever?
Like the yearbooks of Robert Koch Institute (RKI) show, the number of reported cases of Q fever varies. In 2020, 55 cases were reported. The median for the years 2015 to 2020 shows that the average of 150 reported illnesses per year in Germany lies. However, due to the known mild symptoms of acute Q fever, underreporting can be assumed.
What are the treatment options for Q fever?
An acute Q fever illness becomes loud Q GAPS treated with antibiotics. The duration of treatment is 14 days, during which appropriate antibiotic tablets are taken. Children under the age of eight and pregnant women would sometimes have to be treated with antibiotics from other groups of active substances. In the case of children, it should be noted that the dosage must be adapted to the weight of the child.
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