Q fever

Q fever is an acute rickettsial disease characterized by general intoxication, fever, and frequent lung involvement. Refers to zoonoses. Infection is likely to be transmissible, contact, alimentary and airborne.

Etiology, pathogenesis . The causative agent is Burnet’s rickettsia. Stable in the external environment. It is not inactivated during drying, it is stored in dairy products after pasteurization. The gateway of infection is often the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract or digestive tract. The routes of infection determine the clinical manifestations. With airborne dust infection, bronchial damage occurs and, infrequently, peribronchial inflammation of the lung tissue occurs. The hematogen also affects other organs.

Q fever symptoms

The incubation period usually lasts 14–19 days. The disease begins acutely. Body temperature rises to 38-39 gr. C, fever lasts 1-2 weeks, although in some cases it can be delayed up to a month. Characterized by large daily fluctuations in temperature, accompanied by chills and sweat; muscle pain, headache, soreness of the eyeballs. The skin of the face and neck is hyperemic, the vessels of the sclera are injected. Hypotension, bradycardia are observed. Symptoms of damage to the respiratory organs are detected traditionally from the 3rd-4th day of the disease: dry cough, soreness behind the sternum, dry, and then finely bubbling moist rales, less often a shortening of percussion sound is detected. X-ray changes in the lungs are predominantly interstitial (peribronchial) in nature, against the background of which focal infiltrative changes appear in some patients. By the end of the week, the liver and spleen are enlarged. In the period of convalescence, asthenization is preserved for a long time; full recovery of work probability begins in 2-4 weeks. There may be relapses of the disease. When diagnosing, stay in an endemic area is taken into account. Differentiate from ornithosis, mycoplasmosis, acute pneumonia, leptospirosis, brucellosis, typhoid and paratyphoid diseases. The proof is the detection of specific antibodies using RSK.

Q fever treatment

Tetracycline in a daily dose of 0.8-1.2 g or chloramphenicol 2 g / day. The course of the course is 8-10 days. During the febrile period, a 5% glucose solution or an isotonic sodium chloride solution of 500-1000 ml IV is administered, a vitamin complex is prescribed, oxygen therapy and bronchodilators are additionally recommended in case of lung damage.

The prognosis is favorable. The ability to work is fully restored.

Prevention of Q fever

Control of Q fever in farm animals. Milk from sick animals will need to be boiled. According to the indications in the foci of Q fever, specific prophylaxis is carried out. The patient is not dangerous to others.

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