AVA Conference Gold Coast 2020

Q fever is a zoonotic disease (naturally transmissible from animals to humans) with a complex cycle of transmission involving many wild and domestic animal species, companion animals and environmental persistence. Q fever threatens human health and livestock industries, particularly dairy goat farming which is a rapidly emerging industry. The importance of Q fever was highlighted by the outbreak that occurred in The Netherlands in 2007-2012 during which there were more than 4000 human cases and several deaths. Dairy sheep and dairy goat farms in close proximity to human dwellings were identified as the main source of infection. In 2012, a Q fever outbreak involving a large goat and sheep dairy enterprise in Victoria required a collaborative interdisciplinary investigation, which: identified human cases and their risk factors, described the precipitating factors related to the farming system that led to the outbreak, estimated the prevalence in different classes of stock, identified management measures that could be changed to improve biosecurity and aid in disease control, and highlighted factors that could be important for preventing similar outbreaks in other Australian or global livestock enterprises. This presentation will outline the findings of the investigation and the ongoing research that this has spawned, including a major Rural Research for Development and Profit initiative ‘Taking the Q (Query) out of Q fever’. This project is supported by AgriFutures, through funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program (project RIRDC 15 02 008).