Outbreak of Q fever in Washington and Montana

[Blue Oak Ranch]

A friend sent me this link - thought you fellow goat owners should know! Q fever is rare, but transmissible to humans. With show season in full swing, awareness is a good thing.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/124455804.html

I don't know anything else except for the article - I haven't researched anything on it, since I don't show any more and I'm rather far from the area.

Cheers!

Katherine

[LFRJ]

Thank you for sharing, Blue Oak. We're a bit further west than the outbreaks, but you're right. It's show season.

I don't watch local news much. quit long ago. So sensational. Two consecutive news pieces change my mind about watching. The first was a news story with the heading "Raging Sheets of Killer Black Ice". (really?)

The second was the announcement of another e-coli outbreak. I have no problem alerting consumers of this, but the story went on to show a reporter "LIVE FROM COSTCO" holding up two bags of contaminated ground beef. I thought about it for a moment, turned to my loved one and said "it's after 10:00. Costco's closed." Gee. A whole news team in an empty dark parking lot with a stolen grocery cart. Just had to rant.

[copperpennykids]

Just received this from a Yahoo Goat chat group posting: (And folks, this is SERIOUS stuff!)

Posted by: "Theresa Parker" Thu Jun 9, 2011 1:10 pm (PDT)


I have heard just about enough mis-information about Q Fever. And Ms. Ross, I
cannot disagree with you more -- on every point you have made on Q Fever. It
sounds as if you are "poo poo'ing" Q Fever as nothing to worry about. Perhaps
since this disease is not reportable in Texas, you don't think goat breeders in
every other state should be concerned. The fact is ...... this disease is
reportable nationwide --- except for Texas, where the language in the State Dept
of Agriculture's List of Reportable Diseases has conveniently been re-worded so
that positively infected animals do not have to be reported or quarantined. How
convenient for Texans who already know the dangers of Q Fever and refuse to let
fellow breeders know that they have it in their herds. Golly gosh --- that
would cost them money !!!! I am here to tell you that Perry and I have probably
lost over $37,000 already and we are not nearly done yet.

I believe our herd contracted Q Fever through a flush we did in 2008 at
a reproduction facility in Texas which shall remain nameless. Upon arriving to
retreive our donor doe and embryo-carrying recips, and after seeing 2000+ does
laying around huge pens, I was told that all of them were carrying embryos
themselves. ($300 each x 2000 = $600,000.) I asked the facility manager,
"Where do you get your recips and what do you test them for before using them?"
Response: "They are just regular 'ol goats we get at the saleyard and we don't
test for anything." Boy do I wish I would have asked this question before we
did the flush. I should have left town with no goats right then. But after
investing $15,000 in the donor doe and this flush, we loaded them all up and
headed home to Washington State. This was November of 2008. In January 2009
these recip does started kidding these embryos ... now live babies. All recips
had live births except the last one who aborted her 2 kids. Her placenta was
abnormally pink, mushy, and looked like whipped strawberry pie. No distinction
to it. The kids were almost to term but were dead for about a week. That
should have been my first clue. We raised the rest of the flush kids to
adulthood and every one of them except for one has since tested positive for Q
Fever twice even though they were treated with antibiotics. These "embryo
flush result" does were the first to kid in December of 2010. They were the
beginning of the "abortion storm" plus about 10 other yearlings that were housed
with them. Every one of these does aborted. I gave every one of them LA 200
and put Duramycin in their water. I *routinely* use Duramycin at double the
dose in all my watering tanks all winter. We continued to have abortions plus
several stillbirths, and buried 5 fullbloods who had dead kids in them that I
couldln't get out. I sent in dead aborted kids myself to Washington State
University requesting testing for all abortion diseases. Results came back
negative on all. On March 1st we began using Terramycin Crumbles w/Auramycin in
our feed at 2 times the normal dose. We fed it for the next 6 weeks right
through the end of kidding. Duramycin went in the water at 2 times the normal
does. More goats aborted. Some had live births but the kids were very weak,
never walked and died within 12 hours.

On March 29th, 2011 my 4 year old CAE/CL negative LaManha doe obviously was
going to kid and I knew she, too, had dead kids in her. I insisted my vet came
out and C-Section her, which she did and sent the kids/placenta in for abortion
testing that included Coxiella. I asked her, "What in the world is Coxiella?
I've never heard of it." She gave me the bad news and we hoped it was
negative. Wrong. The test was negative for all abortion diseases but positive
for Coxiella. This was a Thursday night. The following Monday morning the WA
State Dept of Health, WSDA Dept of Ag Vet, 3 others vets from WSU and 2 WSU vet
students arrived on my porch to test my entire herd of animals 6 months and
older -- 99 animals times $18/goat = $1700. My herd was quarantined and for
the next two weeks, we were in pure hell. Realizing the implications of this
disease was astounding in every fashion. I immediately made it my mission to
figure out where this came from. And I have found out more than I want to
know. In the meantime, very good, honest, hard working friends of mine have
become very, very ill with Q Fever. I have had Q Fever myself and am
recovering. I cannot tell you the pain this has brought myself and my husband
to know that our goats made someone sick. It has crippled my enthusiam for a
positive outcome and even though we didn't do this intentionally or maliciously,
I still feel responsible. When someone who has bought a goat from you calls to
tell you that his 11 year old son almost died from buying a goat from you, it
will change your life. I am incredibly angry about this.

We have donated our $100,000 registered Boer Goat herd to Washington State
University to use as they please in the first investigation of its kind in the
Northwest and probably in the nation on Q Fever. The quarantine has since been
lifted and I can sell negative goats however ..... Perry and I have decided
that because we will be the ones to blame in spreading this disease no matter
how many herds already have it, it is in the best interests of our fellow
breeders and friends not to sell any goats to anyone who is not educated
accurately about this disease. We pulled our goats from the Exhibitor's Edge
Sale, even though they were not quarantined and even though they tested negative
twice. If you are not willing to educate yourselves, or test your herds, become
a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem.

So -- my advice to you Ms. Ross is to get your veterinary facts straight and
encourage your fellow goat breeders to please tell the rest of the world just
how many of their herds have this disease. Don't ever Poo Poo this disease
publicly to me or anyone else again. That is irresponsible.

Theresa Parker
Parker's Gourmet Goats
Moses Lake, WA

[HappyFarmer]

OMG how devastating for that breeder and those poor folks who contracted it. I hope all recovered. I have to go brush up on Q fever, it's been several years since I've reviewed it and the other diseases that aren't talked about much.

Kudos to Theresa, unfortunately she probably lost her life's calling. How sad. This is yet another reason to buy from reputable herds that are conciencious of diseases and in particular diseases that are problems in certain areas of the country.
HF

[Goat Servant]

Thanks Camille for posting that. I just heard of it.
How is it transmitted? Besides through recip does of unknown health history? What are the signs other than abortion storms?

[julieq]

Thanks for the heads up Katherine. DH is researching it right now. Thank God for a closed herd right now (and we don't show). Good to be aware of this though.

[LFRJ]

Wow! This is concerning. Thanks everyone, for bringing this to light of day. I'm hoping not to see it becoming a widespread issue. Hoping also, lots of others take a moment to read and become educated. I've read alot, but was unfamiliar with this one.

[copperpennykids]

Originally Posted by Goat Servant

Thanks Camille for posting that. I just heard of it.
How is it transmitted? Besides through recip does of unknown health history? What are the signs other than abortion storms?

Here is some information that we tracked down from other goat folks:

[QUOTE]Q fever is a rickettsial disease like Lyme's, I believe. It causes abortions
in dairy goats, which is probably the only symptom. Like other rickettsial
diseases, tetracycline has been the drug of choice for treatment. We dairied
with goats for more than 14 years, producing milk for the Mozzarella Cheese
Company in Dallas. When we were trying to identify it as a causative problem
of a group of abortions in the dairy, there was no definitive test - an
increase in antibodies is used to identify it - in humans and animals.
Unfortunately, there was no base test to compare the diagnostic test to.
Infected does abort about 1-2 months early and do not come into milk. It is
a disaster in a dairy, and I believe has become a reportable disease, which
it was not always.

When we had abortions in a group of does we brought from Oklahoma, we began
doing Q fever research (about 15 years ago). It was the apparent cause,
affecting 90% of the new animals (who came bred and due to kid in 3 months)
and resulting in their being culled from the herd. Carrying dry does until
the next breeding season was not feasible even after successful lengthy
treatment with tetracylines. Our family doctor knew about it. When he was
growing up in west Texas, a neighboring dairy cattle man developed it as
well as the dairyman's family. It is, like the other rickettsia-caused
health problems, a bit insidious because it can be overlooked and cause long
term serious health issues for humans. Cardiac problems were a prime concern
of our doctor.

The health issue seemed to be limited to that group, which we assumed were
exposed before we bought them. One aid in restricting its effects on the
total herd was the fact that those animals were still isolated and in their
own dry pen.

Deer and other wildlife are considered a reservoir, I think. Merck
Veterinary Manual has a very readable explanation of it, the vectors,
symptoms, and treatment.



__________________________________________________ _______________/QUOTE]


And here is another post with a link:

http://wyovet.uwyo.edu/Diseases/2004/Qfever.pdf