Maybe this will help. [Garlic swag from Williams-Sonoma.]Q fever is a potentially dangerous [potentially very dangerous, as in, sometimes fatal] zoonosis, which means, as I'm sure you all know, that it is a disease that originates in an animal species and is transmitted to a human host. Carriers include infected sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, cats, birds and even ticks, oy.
The Canadian [University of Guelph] blog Worms & Germs reports on a major Q fever outbreak in the Netherlands:
Animals often show no signs of illness, although the infection sometimes causes miscarriage, particularly in sheep and goats. Coxiella burnetii is also transmissible to humans. People are much more susceptible than animals to disease from Q fever. Even so, only about 50% of individuals that become infected show signs of illness, which can range from flu-like symptoms to pneumonia and hepatitis (liver infection). About 1-2% of infections in people are fatal.Read the rest, including a list of precautions ["On dry, windy days, avoid farms or areas where sheep or goats are kept" — OMG OMG, I'm totally doomed] here.
2 comments:
"A major outbreak of Q fever associated with GOATS has occurred in the Netherlands.
-- Worms and Germs, emphasis mine.
Another reason to avoid the foul beasties. And perhaps Holland.
And I really wanted a tree fort and some goats to play in it. Would the Cheviots like a tree fort, I wonder.
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