Spain panic: Q fever outbreak sparks alarm - 10 people hospitalised
SPAIN is facing another health crisis as at least 10 people have been hospitalised with Q fever.
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According to the Spanish health department, it happened after 29 people visited the Baltzola caves in the Biscayan municipality of Dima. It is believed they visited the cave during the incubation period of the disease.
The caves - which are widely used by climbers - have since been closed in a bid to stop more people from becoming infected.
Out of those suspected of being infected, 10 have since been hospitalised.
Symptoms of the first suspected cases were reported in mid-April and since then the Department of Health has started cleaning and disinfecting the caves.
Q fever is caused by the bacterium Coxiella burneti and it is usually transmitted to humans through animals, generally sheep, goats and cattle.
The Department of the Environment of the Basque Government has identified seven herds of goats that could be behind the outbreak.
The bacteria which causes the fever are able to survive in harsh environmental conditions and resists heat and desiccation.
Therefore, it can be present in both domestic and wild animals, as well as ticks.
According to health advice, transmission to humans occurs by air and can be directly from close exposure to infected animals or their products.
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It can also be transmitted from long-distance inhalation of aerosols, even after a long time had passed.
Symptoms are varied and non-specific but in around 60 percent of cases, the infection is asymptomatic.
In other cases, it can cause a fever, pneumonia, hepatitis, heart and neurological symptoms.
The most common symptoms in patients with Q fever can manifest between 3 and 30 days after exposure to the bacteria, according to Mayo Clinic.
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Q fever can produce chronic manifestations, such as endocarditis.
It can be treated with antibiotics, specifically doxycycline.
This treatment should be taken for a certain time, depending on whether it is acute or chronic Q fever.
In the first case, this treatment usually lasts between two and three weeks.
This disease has a worldwide distribution but in Spain, it is an endemic, according to the Carlos III Health Institute.
As well as the outbreak of Q fever, Spain is still battling against the coronavirus pandemic.
To date, more than three million people in Spain have tested positive for Covid-19.
The total number of deaths has reached 79,281.
Spain entered a third wave of the pandemic earlier this year, much like the rest of Europe.
More than six million people across the country have received both jabs of a coronavirus vaccine.
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega