Q fever

noun

, Pathology.

1. an acute, influenzalike disease caused by the rickettsia Coxiella burnetti.

Q fever

noun

1. an acute disease characterized by fever and pneumonia, transmitted to man by the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii

Word History and Origins

Origin of Q fever¹

First recorded in 1935–40; abbreviation of query

Word History and Origins

Origin of Q fever¹

C20: from q ( uery ) fever (the cause being unknown when it was named)

Example Sentences

But Coxiella burnetii, the bacterium that causes Q fever, forms hardy spores that wafted out of barns and blew off fields fertilized with goat manure.

From Science Magazine

Studies on other outbreaks — including those of Epstein-Barr virus, Ross River fever and Q fever — have shown that up to 12 percent of people who fell acutely ill never regained full health.

From Washington Post

Studies on other outbreaks ⁠— including those of Epstein-Barr virus, Ross River fever and Q fever ⁠— have shown that up to 12% of people who fell acutely ill never regained full health.

From Seattle Times

In the 1990s, in an early repurposing experiment, he tested the effect of hydroxychloroquine on a frequently fatal condition known as Q fever, which is caused by an intracellular bacterium.

From New York Times

Many of the agents that biowarfare research has focused on are transmitted by ticks, mosquitoes or other arthropods: plague, tularemia, Q fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, Eastern equine encephalitis or Russian spring summer encephalitis.

From Washington Post