Is Q fever a concern?

In my opinion, Q fever is a huge concern for people living within 18 kilometers of an abattoir that is not up to date with industry modernisation in health and safety.
In my opinion, It is a concern if residents can smell, hear or see animals grazing or animal waste.
In my opinion, It is a concern with people having heart problems or immune systems issues.

In my opinion, Residents living within 18 km of Teys Bros Beenleigh can get Q fever from a variety of different ways:

• wild animals and bush animals that roam too close to the Teys Bros Beenleigh cattle yard.
• household pets–especially cats that roam too close to the Teys Bros Beenleigh cattle yard.
• Inhaling dusk particles travelling in the AIR that has passed by open paddocks of grazing cattle like at Teys Bros Beenleigh.
• Blood-sucking ticks spread the Q fever microbe to wild animals, but seldom to humans, household pets however can pick up Q fever directly from other infected animals or from contaminated surroundings.

Studies show that one gram of placenta from infected cattle can contain over one billion Q fever microbes.

These microbes become airborne in tiny droplets of mists or aerosols carried in the wind and can spread up to 18 kilometres:

• When cattle give birth,
• In cattle droppings and urination.
• During processing of infected tissues from slaughtered animals,
• At milking or during the processing of milk, or
• During animal surgery.

After giving birth, cattle usually eat their placenta and other tissues of afterbirth. When this happens, the Q fever microbes survive digestion. They pass along the animal’s intestine and become discharged with the manure.

This allows Q fever to spread widely throughout the environment, becoming airborne with dust from infected animal tissues, manure, or soil. As a result, the general public can become exposed to Q fever by contacting various infected materials such as:

• Dust the cattle paddocks, the cattle and their manure,
• Soil near and in the cattle yards or grazing yards,
• Animal hides, wool, and furs, and
• Clothes from workers who were exposed to infected animals or materials.

What areas are at increased risk for Q fever?

Q fever spreads easily throughout agricultural regions affecting anyone who works outdoors in contact with infected soil or dust. Airborne particles containing the Q fever microbe may be carried downwind for a considerable distance–up to 18 kilometres.

Q fever also spreads easily within surrounding areas of Abattoirs from house to house, spreading to the unsuspecting public who are ignorant and oblivious to the problem; many contracting Q Fever but mistaking it for the Flu .

Many people do not realize they have been infected or they confuse the symptoms with those of the flu. Some of the health problems that may be seen with Q fever include:

• Sudden onset of high fever

• Chills and sweating

• General feeling of sickness and loss of appetite

• Possible liver disease (hepatitis)

• Possible heart disease (endocarditis or inflammation of the inside lining of the heart)

• Slight, dry cough because of a lung inflammation known as pneumonitis

Most symptoms disappear after 7 to 10 days. However, people with Q fever may still feel under the weather and not hungry for several weeks. Antibiotics are usually prescribed to treat Q fever. Recovery usually begins shortly after treatment is started. 

Some of the areas at increased risk for Q fever include the following:

• Surrounding areas of Abattoirs, like Teys Bros Beenleigh
• Surrounding areas exposed to open stockyards,
• Trucks that carry the cattle to and from the cattle ranch to the Abattoir
• Truck drivers, personnel who service the trucks that carry animals,
• Visitors to animal auctions,
• Meat packers, rendering plant workers, hide and wool handlers,
• Farmers, ranchers, and farm workers in contact with cattle, sheep, and goats,
• Laboratory animal researchers and support staff,
• Workers who care for pets and livestock–veterinary personnel, pet shop workers and zoo attendants, and
• Certain groups of medical and health care personnel who have contact with blood, sputum or tissue from infected patients.

How can we prevent Q fever in the workplace?

For most effective prevention, the Q fever microbe should be eliminated from animals. Eradications programs, however, are not yet available because Q fever spreads so effectively among animals. So far, research on vaccination programs for animals has not had practical success.

Workers who have even remote contact with animals, animal products, and animal waste should be informed about the disease, its characteristics, and the nature of the risk. Workers who start jobs with increased risk of Q fever should be offered blood tests to determine if they have resistance to Q fever or whether they should consider vaccination. The possibility of Q fever should be investigated in high risk workers who develop an unexplained feverish illness, especially if lung infections develop. Q fever is a reportable disease in most Canadian jurisdictions.

The risk of infection from the workplace can be reduced by:

• Vaccination of workers,
• Personal precautions, and
• Workplace hygiene.

Click on this link to sign our petition to

Shut Down Teys Bros Beenleigh