Acute Q fever in northern Queensland: variation in incidence related to rainfall and geographical location

The aims of this study were to define the basic epidemiology of serologically confirmed acute Q fever in patients tested via the Townsville Hospital laboratory from 2000 to 2010 and to determine the impact of geographical location and seasonality on the incidence of acute cases in the Townsville reg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology and infection 2013-05, Vol.141 (5), p.1034-1038
Main Authors: HARRIS, P., EALES, K. M., SQUIRES, R., GOVAN, B., NORTON, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Animals
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Blood & organ donations
Cattle
Chronic illnesses
Demography
Disease
Effectiveness
Endocarditis
Female
Fever
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hospitals
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Incidence
Infectious diseases
Laboratories
Male
Meat processing
Medical sciences
Microbiology
Middle Aged
Q Fever - epidemiology
Queensland - epidemiology
Rain
Retrospective Studies
Rickettsial diseases
Risk Factors
Serology
Short Report
Tropical bacterial diseases
Young Adult
Zoonoses
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Summary:The aims of this study were to define the basic epidemiology of serologically confirmed acute Q fever in patients tested via the Townsville Hospital laboratory from 2000 to 2010 and to determine the impact of geographical location and seasonality on the incidence of acute cases in the Townsville region. Seven Statistical Local Areas (SLA) were identified as having an incidence higher than the average Queensland incidence over the study period. The SLA with the highest incidence was Woodstock-Ross with 24·9 cases/100 000. A clear seasonal peak was found, with the greatest number of cases observed in May, 3 months following the peak in rainfall in February. We hypothesize that an increase in wildlife numbers and drier conditions seen immediately following the wet season is the reason for the seasonal peak of human acute Q fever cases in Townsville.
ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409
DOI:10.1017/S0950268812001495