24 apr 2024 om 22:03 Update: 20 min. geleden
For the first time since 2016, an infection with Q fever has been found at a Dutch livestock farm. It concerns a sheep farm in Brakel, Gelderland. The risk to public health is low, RIVM estimates.
The infected company is a dairy sheep farm with 128 animals, writes outgoing Minister Piet Adema of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in a letter to Parliament.
The contamination came to light through the monitoring program of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), via a bulk milk sample from the company. The company was then blocked and additional samples were taken. The results of those tests were also positive.
Wat is Q-koorts?
Q-koorts is een infectieziekte die veroorzaakt wordt door een bacterie. De ziekte kan van dieren op mensen overgaan, maar is niet van mens op mens overdraagbaar. Q-koorts komt vooral voor bij schapen, geiten en runderen. Als deze dieren besmet zijn kan de bacterie vrijkomen tijdens de geboorte van lammetjes of kalfjes.
Van mensen die besmet zijn met Q-koorts krijgt meer dan de helft geen klachten. Klachten die kunnen voorkomen lijken meestal op de griep, maar soms kan het ook ernstiger verlopen. Zo’n 20 procent van de besmette personen houdt na acute Q-koorts langere tijd klachten, zoals vermoeidheid.
There are 35 unvaccinated ewes on the farm, 25 of which have recently given birth. The NVWA considers it likely that the Q fever bacterium is circulating in that group of animals, because the bacterium was discovered after the arrival of the new lambs.
Some unvaccinated sheep may have been taken to other (dairy) sheep farms. The NVWA is still investigating this. Some of the animals have been taken to slaughter.
The RIVM estimates the risk to public health in the area to be low, Adema writes. Most animals have been vaccinated and no symptoms of disease have been observed. In addition, it is suspected that it concerns only one or a few infections.
Fifteen years ago outbreak in the Netherlands
Between 2006 and 2009, the Netherlands experienced an outbreak of Q fever. A total of four thousand human cases of illness were registered at that time. At least 25 people died from the effects of the disease.
The Q-support Foundation later stated that there were at least 74 deaths. In recent years, the number of registered infections per year has been between ten and twenty.
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