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The Rural Voice, 1987-01, Page 26orris omuLh aylor • Computerized Accounting and Taxation Services • Preparation of Financial Projections, Production Plans, and OFFIRR Program Assistance Applications • Financing Proposals • Personal and Corporate Tax Planning and Financial Management. Chartered Accountants P.O. Box 1690, 497 Main St. S. EXETER, Ontario NOM 1S0 (519) 235-0101 LIMITED BUYING & SELLING SURPLUS BUILDING MATERIALS • Surplus Westeel Galvanized & Coloured Steel Cladding • Surplus Dashwood Energy Efficient Windows • Surplus Plain & Thermal Sheet Glass All in stock All Types of Used Building Materials 2x8 & 2x6 Plank, 40 ft. Span Open Web Steel Truss, Pipe, Reclaimed 'white' brick — Items Arriving Daily — For Information and Demolition Quotes Cali 1-800-265-3062 519.369-3203 Warehouse and Sales Yard Located 5 Km South of Durham on Hwy. 6 22 THE RURAL VOICE Q FEVER: A GROWING MENACE IN DAIRY HERDS Working and living with domestic animals entails certain risks to human health. In the past, bovine tuberculo- sis and bovine brucellosis were typical examples of such risks, but thanks to concerted efforts by public and animal health regulatory agencies these com- municable infections are mostly bad memories. Our cattle herds were cleared from the infections through systematic sero -testing and the elim- ination of affected animals. Unfortunately, a new menace to health has crept into Ontario's dairy herds. It is coxiellosis (named after H. Cox, one of the scientists who studied the causative agant, Coxiella burnetii). Coxiellosis is the source of human Q fever. The human disease looks and feels like a common flu, often accompanied by a peculiar sensation of tightness in the chest. It tends to persist and can send vulnerable people, especially the elderly, to hospital with a bad case of pneumonia or damaged liver. In the worst instance, luckily quite rare, it can cause damage to the heart valves, leaving the patient crip- pled for life by cardiac insufficiency. Almost always, people acquire Q fever from animals infected by coxiel- losis, of which the domestic ruminants are the most dangerous. Coxiellosis is rarely a disease in animals (abortion, retention of afterbirth, and breeding problems are occasionally encountered) and causes few direct losses to the farmer, a major reason why it has been overlooked for so long. It is in the developing fetus of the pregnant cow, ewe, or goat that the coxiellosis agent multiplies — at birth or miscarriage, huge numbers are re- leased into the environment with the fetal waters and membranes. In the dried state, Coxiella bumetii can sur- vive the harshest conditions for long periods, and is usually transmitted to man or animals by the inhalation of coxiella-bearing dust. The agent can also invade a cow's udder and pass into the milk. Even though the udder is not visibly darn - aged and the milk does not appear to be modified, milk excretion of coxiel- las can last for months. Contaminated milk which has been spilled and has dried is as dangerous as infected birth waters. Boiling or pasteurizing milk kills the coxiellas, and commercial milk in stores is therefore safe for con- sumers. But farmers, cattle handlers and dealers, veterinarians, and others who work with cows can fall prey to Q fever. We have known of Q fever in Canada since 1954, when an epidemic occurred among workers at an abattoir in Princeville, Quebec. Studies in the early 1960s revealed coxiella infection in dairy cattle throughout Canada, ex- cept in the Maritimes. But the level of infection was so low that no precau- tions appeared to be necessary. This view was borne out by the fact that very few cases of human Q fever were brought to the attention of the medical establishment. In the late '70s and early '80s, how- ever, human Q fever was diagnosed with increasing frequency in Ontario, and it is now also present in the Maritimes. In the past few years, the Public Health Laboratory in Toronto has registered more than 30 Q fever cases a year in the province, and ex- perts estimate that for every reported case nine or more will go unnoticed because rarely does anybody think of Q fever when a person gets a flu. Proper treatment of Q fever requires a sus- tained cure with antibiotics or relapses may occur. Since human Q fever is a reflection of what happens in our livestock, cox- iellosis must have spread on our farms too. And a recent survey carried out at the Ontario Veterinary College shows that 67 per cent of dairy herds have cows that react to a coxiella blood test (called in short coxiella ELISA). In- fected most is southwestern Ontario (more than 80 per cent) and least eastern Ontario (33 per cent).