Without strict control of animal husbandry, it is impossible to stop the development of the Q fever epidemic (the so-called goat flu) – such conclusions are drawn from the report of experts analyzing the course of the last epidemic of this disease in the Netherlands. Critical to the Dutch government, a report cites the scientific journal Science.
According to the report, the Dutch government failed to deal with the threat of Q fever, resulting in an epidemic of this dangerous disease that was passed on from farm animals to humans. Since 2007, over 4 people have fallen ill with Q fever. people. 14 of them died. To stop the epidemic, 21 people were killed. heads of goats and sheep.
Q fever caused by Coxiella burnetii occurs mainly in cattle, goats and sheep. But it can also affect people, especially people who breathe air that contains the bacteria. It causes abortions in cattle and is present especially in the amniotic fluid, placenta and aborted fetuses. Human symptoms resemble severe flu – there is muscle pain, fever, headache, chills, exhaustion and weakness, and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting. The bacteria can also cause pneumonia and heart problems.
Prior to the spread of the epidemic, the Dutch received warnings of a massive outbreak of Q fever from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The government has adopted a waiting strategy. According to experts, it took too long to prevent the disease from spreading to goat farms. There were also no risk measurements carried out on time. Alerted officials from the local health administration in the most affected province – North Brabant – had a great problem presenting the threat to government bodies.
As a result, experts estimated that 2008, when 900 people fell ill, was a waste of time for prevention and treatment, and it was not until 2009, when the epidemic began to spread, that the prevention and control program was introduced. At this stage, however, drastic measures were needed – 6,2 thousand jobs were liquidated. pregnant females on infected farms and costly mass vaccination of goats and sheep began. A total of 21 thousand were minted. goats and sheep in the Netherlands, and the vaccination campaign will not end until April 2011.
One of the reasons for the delays, the report said, was bureaucratic problems. The goat flu problem was dealt with by two government departments that practically did not communicate with each other. The Ministry of Agriculture was concerned that aggressive control measures would lead to lawsuits and accusations from farmers, and the Ministry of Health also did not want to introduce too harsh measures or did not have sufficient power to protect public health. In the case of future zoonoses, diseases that are passed on zoonoses to humans, it is the Ministry of Health that is to be responsible for protection – experts assessed.
Statistics previously published by the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (NIPHE) show that introducing a strict control strategy pays off – only 382 people contracted Q fever in 2010, compared to 2009 in 2300.
Q fever has been known in Poland for a long time. Its first outbreak was diagnosed in 1956 in Owczary in the then province. nowosądecki. It came from sheep brought from Romania. Since then, several more outbreaks of this disease have been recorded in the country, both among humans and animals. The largest of the registered outbreaks occurred in the former Zamość Province in 1983. Most of the cases concerned animals (sheep, cattle, goats) or their raw materials (leather and wool) imported to Poland.
Q fever also appeared in Poland during the Dutch epidemic, among others in November 2008, 21 people fell ill with it on a dairy farm in Dębno in the province. Subcarpathian.