J Korean Med Sci.  2023 Jun;38(24):e197. 10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e197.

Current Status of Q Fever and the Challenge of Outbreak Preparedness in Korea: One Health Approach to Zoonoses

• Cho YS
• Park JH
• Kim JW
• Lee JJ
• Youn SY
• Byeon HS
• Jeong HW
• Kim DM
• Yu SN
• Yoon JW
• Kwak D
• Yoo HS
• Lee JY
• Kwon JR
• Hwang KW
• Heo JY

• KMID: 2543977
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e197

Abstract

Human Q fever, a zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii, presents with diverse clinical manifestations ranging from mild self-limited febrile illnesses to life-threatening complications such as endocarditis or vascular infection. Although acute Q fever is a benign illness with a low mortality rate, a large-scale outbreak of Q fever in the Netherlands led to concerns about the possibility of blood transfusion-related transmission or obstetric complications in pregnant women. Furthermore, a small minority (< 5%) of patients with asymptomatic or symptomatic infection progress to chronic Q fever. Chronic Q fever is fatal in 5–50% of patients if left untreated. In South Korea, Q fever in humans was designated as a notifiable infectious disease in 2006, and the number of Q fever cases has increased sharply since 2015. Nonetheless, it is still considered a neglected and under-recognized infectious disease. In this review, recent trends of human and animal Q fever in South Korea, and public health concerns regarding Q fever outbreaks are reviewed, and we consider how a One Health approach could be applied as a preventive measure to prepare for zoonotic Q fever outbreaks.

Keyword

Q Fever; Coxiella burnetii; Zoonoses; One Health

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Annual number of confirmed or probable cases of human Q fever and brucellosis in Korea.

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  Fig. 2 Annual number of human Q fever cases, and number of goats, dairy cattle and sheep head in Korea. The incidence of human Q fever is significantly correlated with the number of goats head between 2012 and 2021 (Spearman correlation coefficient [rs] = 0.685, P = 0.029).

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