Ceva Hosts Q Fever Webinar
2 years ago 
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Ceva Animal Health is hosting a webinar on Q Fever entitled ‘Q Fever – a disease with underestimated consequences’ to educate farm vets on the important role UK vets play in helping to identify and reduce the impact of the disease on farms.
Half of UK dairy farms may be at risk of Q Fever1, 2 and the webinar will cover the UK prevalence of Q Fever in herds, its cause and transmission, together with identification and diagnostics. It will also feature the variations between livestock species, disease prevention and its risk to humans as a zoonosis.
The webinar will be presented by Jonathan Statham MA VetMB DCHP FRCVS, a RCVS registered specialist in cattle health and co-author of the ‘Dairy Herd Health’ textbook. It will take place at 4.00pm on Wednesday 28 September and account for 1.5 hours CPD. Questions can be submitted during the webinar for Jonathan to answer in a Q&A session at the end. Online delegates will receive a CPD certificate after the event.
"Q Fever is of much higher profile in many other parts of the world such as Australia and has been notifiable for some years with national testing programmes in a number of European countries such as Germany,” comments Jonathan Statham. “Recently Q Fever has become notifiable in the UK and climate change is changing the future risk profile. Zoonotic disease is always a concern and is an appropriate aspect of herd health discussions that will be driven as part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway from this autumn."
“Q Fever is endemic in UK dairy herds1. The disease causes issues with reproduction and fertility and has the potential to have significant impact on livestock health and productivity. However, awareness is low amongst the farming industry,” adds Renzo Di Florio, veterinary advisor at Ceva Animal Health. “Our Q Fever webinar will help raise awareness of the disease and the preventative measures that can be put in place to help protect those working with livestock on a regular basis and reduce the impact of Q Fever on farms.”
Q Fever is caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii, which can infect humans, cattle, goats, sheep and many other mammals, as well as reptiles, ticks and birds. Known originally as Query fever, it was first identified in Australia in 1935 after an outbreak of disease in abattoir workers.
The bacterium can survive for extended periods of time in the environment3. For example, up to five months in soil and up to two years at minus 20oC. It is also resistant to many commonly used disinfectants. Alongside environmental persistence, Coxiella burnetii can be spread up to 11 miles on the wind4. Risk factors for infection are mainly related to the density of ruminants. An outbreak seen in the Netherlands (2007 – 2010) was linked to a 75-fold increase in goat numbers seen in the preceding 25 years. The bacterium thrives in dry environments and rain has a negative impact on the distribution.
To register for the webinar or if you have further questions, simply e-mail [email protected] stating your name and practice name. Further details and the link will be sent out before the webinar.
Ends
References
- Velasova M. et al. 2017. Herd-level prevalence of selected endemic infectious diseases of dairy cows in Great Britain. J. Dairy Sci. 100:9215–9233
- Valergakis G. et al. 2012. Coxiella burnetii in bulk tank milk of dairy cattle in south-west England. Vet Record 11;171(6):156, 1-2
- Nusinovici S. et al. 2015. Q Fever infection in dairy cattle herds: increased risk with high wind speed and low precipitation. Epidemiology & Infection 143.15 (2015): 3316-3326
- Clark NJ, Soares Magalhães RJ. Airborne geographical dispersal of Q fever from livestock holdings to human communities: a systematic review and critical appraisal of evidence. BMC Infect Dis. 2018 May 15;18(1):218. doi: 10.1186/s12879-018-3135-4
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