Q fever

American  

noun

Pathology.

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

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Q fever British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of Q fever

First recorded in 1935–40; abbreviation of query

Example Sentences

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 • May 12, 2020

He began treating Q fever with a combination of hydroxychloroquine and doxycycline and later used the same drugs for Whipple’s disease, another fatal condition caused by an intracellular bacterium.

From New York Times • May 12, 2020

The bacterium, which causes an influenza-like illness called Q fever, normally divides only inside the cells it infects — forcing researchers to grow it in mammalian tissue and hampering their efforts to investigate the microbe.

From Nature • Jun. 15, 2015

Ironically, some of these agents are also found in natural settings, like plague or Q fever.

From Scientific American • Jan. 24, 2013

Dr. Philip boasts of the quantity of "Q fever" germs that one of his favorite ticks often contains.

From Time Magazine Archive