Q fever in the United Kingdom and Ireland

In Britain, Q fever in man was first reported in 1949. Two years later a serological survey of cattle revealed a prevalence of infection of 2.1%. In the 1970's prevalences of 4.5% and 3.1% were encountered respectively in cows that had aborted or calved normally in central England. In sheep, antibodies to C. burnetii have been detected in approximately 2.8% of sera examined for diagnostic purposes and 0.6% of sheep awaiting export. Since 1975 fewer than 10 incidents of C. burnetii associated disease in cattle have been reported annually while the figure for sheep has been even smaller. Between 100 and 200 cases of human Q fever are encountered annually. The majority are sporadic but occasionally large outbreaks occur. Direct contact with farm livestock or other animals cannot always be established. Despite Public Health interest in Q fever the low economic significance of C. burnetii infection of farm livestock limits opportunities for conjoint medical-veterinary epidemiological investigations. In Ireland, the patterns of animal infection with C. burnetii and of human Q fever are broadly similar to those in Britain.