Q FeverA disease first recognised in Australia in 1935, and now known to have a worldwide distribu-tion, Q fever is an infection of man, cattle, sheep, goats, fowls, and rodents.. Human
Trang 1Q Fever
A disease first recognised in Australia in 1935,
and now known to have a worldwide
distribu-tion, Q fever is an infection of man, cattle,
sheep, goats, fowls, and rodents In Iran,
serological evidence of Q fever has been found
also in horses and camels
CauseA rickettsia, Coxiella burnetii, which is
resistant to heat and drying, and can be
trans-mitted by ticks Human infection can be
acquired from these, from inhalation, and from
drinking unpasteurised, infected milk; as well as
from handling or coming into contact with
the fetal membranes, faeces or urine of infected
animals
Signs In farm animals, many Q fever
infec-tions may be present without obvious
symp-toms However, the rickettsia is a cause of
abortion, and less often of pneumonia
Incidence In the UK a preliminary survey
showed that 2581 farms in England, 553 in
Wales, and 240 in Scotland were infected It has
been found possible to isolate the parasite from
13,600-litre (3000-gallon) milk tankers
In a survey, sera from cattle and sheep in the
northeast of Scotland were tested for antibodies
to C burnetii Approximately 1 per cent of
4880 cattle had antibodies to the organism
These potentially infected cattle were
distrib-uted throughout the area Two flocks of sheep
were tested; in one flock, 30 per cent of
sheep had antibodies, while the other was
negative The flock with the high prevalence of
C burnetii antibodies appeared to be associated
with an outbreak of human Q fever on that
farm
TreatmentMost antibiotics are
rickettsiostat-ic rather than rrickettsiostat-ickettsiocidal; tetracycline has
been used effectively However, the organism
can remain dormant for long periods inside the
host’s body cells
Public healthAcute Q fever may involve the
liver and heart (with resultant myocarditis)
Mild cases may resemble food poisoning or
influenza with headaches Chronic Q fever
occurs
Q fever in snakesMany snakes imported into the USA are infested with ticks, which transmitted Q fever to dockside workers handling a shipment of Ball pythons
Q fever from contaminated clothing
This was the presumed cause of 16 out of
32 employees at a truck- repair plant becoming ill with the disease Serological tests on a cat
were positive for C burnetii The cat was fed at
home by one of the workers at the plant
Quadriceps
Quadriceps means having 4 heads, and is the collective name applied to the powerful muscles situated above the stifle-joint These are medial and lateral vasti, and the rectus femoris; the 4th muscle (vastus intermedius) in the horse is
so blended with the medial vastus that it has lost its autonomy
Quadriplegia
Paralysis of all 4 limbs (See PARALYSIS; TICK PARALYSIS;RACOONS;CURARE.)
Quail
Small, rapidly maturing game birds included as poultry in British legislation Females start
to lay eggs at 5 to 6 weeks of age; the first eggs laid are usually infertile, but thereafter high fertility can be obtained Males are sexually active at 5 weeks Among the diseases they may suffer are: botulism, lymphoid leukosis, Marek’s disease, Newcastle disease, pasteurellosis, mycoplasmosis, salmonellosis, quail disease (ulcerative enteritis), quail bronchitis and coccidiosis
Quail Bronchitis
A highly contagious viral infection Signs appear in all susceptible birds within 3 to 7 days
of infection having been spotted in individuals Clinical signs are very severe respiratory distress with 100 per cent morbidity and mortality from 10 per cent to 100 per cent
Quail Disease (Ulcerative enteritis of quail)
A severe bacterial infection caused by
Corynebacterium perdicum Birds may die
sud-denly without showing clinical signs; these birds are usually in good condition with feed in their crop Birds less acutely affected are listless, huddling with eyes partly closed and with ruf-fled feathers Emaciation develops witin a week Survivors become immune Streptomycin, chloromycetin and bacitracin have been used
Q
Trang 2in treatment Effective control of other diseases
will help to reduce the severity of quail
disease
Quarantine
The imposition of measures for preventing the
spread of infectious disease by which an animal
or animals, which have come from potentially
infected countries or areas, are kept separate
from indigenous animals until their disease-free
status is confirmed (or otherwise)
The regulations dealing with quarantine of
animals are altered from time to time, and so
information on the matter is best obtained
direct from the government department that
deals with livestock in a particular country
The length of quarantine depends on the
dis-ease whose entry is being prevented For rabies
it is 6 months (except in the case of dogs and
cats from specified countries, for which new
regulations apply); for foot-and-mouth and
Newcastle disease it is 30 to 35 days It is a
sen-sible precaution that new stock introduced to
farms, zoos, etc should be kept separate until it
is certain that they have not brought in new
dis-eases or virulent strains, even if this is not
required by law
(See RABIES; IMPORTING/EXPORTING ANIMALS;
NOTIFIABLE DISEASES; PET TRAVEL SCHEME;
PIGEONS.)
Quarter Horse
(see AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE)
Quaternary Ammonium
Compounds
Quaternary ammonium compounds are used as
antiseptics, and have found widespread
applica-tion in dairy hygiene Cetrimide – or cetyl
trimethyl ammonium bromide – is an example
It is used in 0.1 per cent solution for washing
cows’ udders, teats, and milkers’ hands, being
effective against Streptococcus agalactiae In
higher concentrations it acts as a detergent
Such compounds are readily neutralised by
organic matter and should only be used on
visibly clean surfaces (See also CETRIMIDE;
HIBI-TANE.)
Queen
A female cat
Queensland Itch
This is caused by sensitisation to bites of the
midge Culicoides robertsi The lesions resemble
those of mange or eczema, and are seen usually
along the animal’s back Antihistamines are
useful in treatment The condition is regarded
as an allergic dermatitis, and is similar to ‘sweet itch’ (See under FLIES.)
Quey
A heifer
Quidding (Cudding)
Quidding (cudding) is the name given to that condition in horses, depending upon injuries to the mouth or diseases of the teeth, in which food is taken into the mouth, chewed
repeated-ly, and then expelled on to the floor of the stall
or into the manger It may result from the teeth being too sharp, irregular in height, uneven in alignment, or from permanent teeth pushing the temporaries out from the gums; it may also arise when the gums, cheeks, or tongue have been injured or are diseased Paralysis of the throat, or some other condition which causes inability to swallow, can cause quidding (See MOUTH,DISEASES OF;TEETH,DISEASES OF.)
Quinine
Quinine is an alkaloid obtained from the bark
of various species of cinchona trees in South America The bark contains 4 alkaloids, of which quinine is the most active and impor-tant, the others being quinidine, cinchonine, and cinchonidine
Quinine is usually used in the form of one of its salts, i.e sulphate, hydrochloride, or hydro-bromate of qui-nine
Action Quinine causes a lowering of temper-ature in fevers In man, it is used for the relief
of malaria
UsesThese have dwindled Before the advent
of the sulfa drugs and antibiotics it was much used in influenza, distemper, and similar condi-tions It is sometimes given as an intramuscular injection Owing to its very bitter taste it is seldom that it will be taken in the food
Toxicity The dog is very susceptible to quinine and may become blind at plasma con-centrations readily tolerated by man
Quittor
Quittor is a condition of the ‘lateral’ cartilages
of the horse’s foot, in which suppuration occurs, with pus escaping from an opening in the region
of the coronet This, and the bulbs of the heels, are swollen and painful The cause is an injury
to the cartilage or to infection, or both There is usually some degree of lameness Antibiotics are used in treatment
580 Quarantine
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