Fieldwork Safety Page 6 of 7 This is the Mandatory Operational Code of Practice for Field Safety produced by the Field Studies Council. FSC OPERATIONAL CODES OF PRACTICE No. 1 : FIELD SAFETY Appendix 4 : Q-Fever 1. Causes and infection route of disease 2. Symptoms of the disease 3. Diagnosis and treatment of the disease 4. Incidence of the rickettsia and of cases of the disease in UK 5. Safety Management System for the disease 6. Acknowledgements 1. Causes and infection route of disease The disease is caused by a Rickettsia species [a type of organism which is intermediate between viruses and bacteria] which are carried by vertebrates [such as sheep and cattle] and by arthropods [such as fleas, lice and ticks]. Although humans can be infected through being bitten by an infected arthropod, the more usual infection routes are by handling animals or dried material of animal origin and by breathing in such dried materials [Whilst arthropod faeces are a potential source of such dried material, cattle and sheep are more usual sources, especially blooded material including after-birth material] In this respect, the disease can be transmitted to humans by the wind. 2. Symptoms of the disease The symptoms can be mild or severe and include fever, pneumonitis and hepatitis. Patients may display symptoms for only a short period [acute attack] or they may persist over a long time [chronic form]. 3. Diagnosis and treatment of the disease The disease is confirmed by blood tests and treated with antibiotics 4. Incidence of the rickettsia and of cases of the disease in UK The disease was first noted among meat workers in Queensland, Australia in 1935 and had spread to Europe by World War 11. Although it is now regarded as endemic [ie. is unlikely to ever be totally eradicated] to UK, the number of cases of the disease is low [< 80 per year]. There is no geographic pattern to cases of the disease, which appear sporadic in nature. Cases have occurred in urban areas, as well as rural areas, although in such cases indirect infection routes from a rural source have frequently been identified or implied. By way of illustration Engineers working on isolated TV masts in sheep farming areas. Male who practised golf in a field sprayed with waste from an abattoir. Female bank clerk who lived and worked in Llandudno. Her son was a farmworker and she used to knock the dried mud, etc. off his overalls before washing them. [The son had never been infected.] 5. Safety Management System for the disease Preliminary advice on the possibility of infection should be provided to group organisers, students and parents by means of appropriate letters. [See section 5.3.a. and section 7. of FSC OCoP No.1 : Appendix 2.] Given the low incidence of the disease in the UK, its association with dried animal material and its wind-blown transmission route, it is unlikely that students will contract the disease and there is little than can be done practically to prevent an infection. However, students should be made aware of the fact that, if they feel unwell on returning home [particularly to urban locations], they should go to see their GP and inform them that they have been on a field course. Such information is essential to the GP in making a correct diagnosis. Many zoonoses infections produce only mild initial symptoms, which can easily be mistaken for "flu' unless a GP has grounds for suspecting otherwise. 6. Acknowledgements This appendix was written with the invaluable advice and information provided by Dr. R Smith of the Communicable Diseases Surveillance Unit, Cardiff. The contents of this appendix, particularly its recommendations for safe working procedures to be undertaken by FSC staff, remain the responsibility of the FSC. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Page 6 of 7