QFIG

Breaking News!

Q fever international stakeholders meeting 9PM Queensland time/AST Monday 31st March was a great success!

3rd session provisionally July TBA 9PM Queensland/Sydney time.

Emails/minutes of 2nd session will follow soon! (unfortunately we were unable to share the video, are working on alternative methods for next meeting)

Please use link below to participate!

Q fever international stakeholders meeting link

Q fever Symposium is coming!

Registration portal and Poster Abstract portal closes May 30th!!

last 24 hours to register!

See links below

Byron Bay , June 14, 15 2025

Only 15 sleeps to go!

Link to symposium page here

QFIG Symposium

International Q fever collaboration links (in blue)

Link to German Q-fever collaboration (Q-GAPS)

As a step towards QFIG's aim of international collaborations, the link to Q-GAPS , the German Q fever collaboration, QFIG's first international collaboration, is here: https://q-gaps.de/en/

International Q fever collaboration (Q-NET-Assess)

French Q fever collaboration(Anses)

Présentation et missions | Anses - Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail

EFSA- Q fever story map

Dutch Q fever collaboration (Q-koorts)

Q-koorts Expertisecentrum - Radboudumc

Spanish Q fever collaboration (NEIKER)

NEIKER | Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario

Q2030 Initiative launched!

On April 15th (2024) QFIG launched a new initative with aspirational goals for the year 2030

Please see the link on right

a webpage on ARRL and culture of C.burnettii from clinical cultures has been added.

See link on right.

QFIG Mission Statement

"To establish an Australia-wide registry of new Q fever cases and to follow each case, thus determining the natural history of the infection in Australia".

Locations of QFIG Members as of June 2022

Dedicated email address

As of October 2022, you may now contact QFIG via a generic email address : qfig@health.qld.gov.au

Preamble

Q fever is notified in approximately 400 – 600 persons per year in Australia. These cases predominate in the states of Queensland and New South Wales corresponding with areas where most cattle and sheep farming occurs, reflecting proximity and occupational exposure to these natural reservoirs.
An expert group of interested clinicians, microbiologists, public health physicians, veterinarians and researchers formed the Australian Q fever interest group (QFIG) on the 21st October 2021 in response to broad support for improved understanding of the natural history of the disease in the local context. Greater understanding is sought on geospatial and temporal differences including climate impacts, trends in potential exposure factors for those without traditional risk factors, proportion of cases and risk factors for progression to chronic Q fever or post Q fever fatigue syndrome, diagnostic markers for development of and therapeutic monitoring for chronic disease, and comparison with international data sets. QFIG aims to establish a prospective, longitudinal Australian Q Fever clinical registry for this purpose.

Provisional QFIG projects

A proposal for establishment of an Australian Q Fever clinical registry

Steering committee as of June 2022:
Candice Holland, Robert Horvath, Stephen R. Graves, Jenny Robson, Sarah Coghill, Katherine Garnham,Penny Hutchinson, Nicolas Smoll

Methods:
An expressions of interest will be forwarded to the full QFIG membership to form a steering committee for the establishment of the Q Fever clinical registry. The registry will be designed according to the principles outlined in the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s (“the Commission”) framework for Australian clinical quality registries. An initial planning stage will be undertaken, with consideration of the components of the framework to be determined by the steering committee including development of a project plan, governance structures, registry design and datasets, analytics and reporting, quality improvement and an implementation strategy. On agreement of these critical core components, a business case for registry establishment will be developed and funding sources explored to ensure long term sustainability of the project.
The steering committee will establish the registry in line with national and jurisdictional regulatory and legislative requirements as outlined by the Commission. Ethics and governance approvals will be sought once the datasets are agreed upon and the business case is completed.

Results:
QFIG will aim to produce an annual summary of findings from the Q Fever registry in the form of a publicly available report.

Summary:
The establishment of a prospective clinical Q Fever registry in Australia will significantly advance the understanding of the natural history of Q Fever in the local Australian context. This will in turn enhance the understanding of non-classical risk factors and improve case detection, enable assessment of the population level impact of interventions and is anticipated to improve patient outcomes due to chronic sequelae of the disease.

Progress:
Over the coming weeks, we expect to advertise EOIs for committee and subcommitee members for various QFIG innovations including the registry above. Furher virtual meetings will be held when the information required is ready.

Phase 1: establishment of first commitees

EOIs closed September 14th.

QFIG Steering Commitee met September 19th to draw-up the initial commitees.

Applicants will be notified soon of the outcomes of their EOIs, and the initial committees are expected to commence this year.

We also expect further targeted commitees to be formed in near future

Also as an outcome of September 19th meeting, we expect to be commencing in October a monthly QFIG case discussion meeting.

These meetings will be 4PM Mondays EST. For referrals please either communicate directly with the steeering commitee members listed above , or use the ieq@health.qld.gov.au email address please.

QFIG members

International Members

Benjamin Bauer (vet+ academic) Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Greifswald, Germany

Laura Chaverri (vet + academic) Zoonosis and Entomology Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Nacional Heredia, Costa Rica

Gaby Dolz Wiedner (vet + Academic) Zoonosis and Entomology Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Nacional Heredia, Costa Rica

Rudolf Reichel (vet) UK

Sara Savic (vet+ academic) Scientific Veterinary Institute, Novi Sad, Serbia

Australian members

Mark Armstrong (IDP/micro) Mater Brisbane QLD

Anushia Ashokan (IDP) RAH and QEH Adelaide, SA

Eugene Athan (IDP/PH) Barwon Health, Geelong VIC

Timothy Badrick (IDP/micro) QLD

Kelly Baker (ID trainee) QLD

Sandra Baxendell (vet) QLD

Katrina Bosward (vet/micro + academic) U Syd, NSW

Cormac Carey (GP) Toowoomba, QLD

Linda Chew (ID/micro) Toowoomba, QLD

Rowland Cobbold (vet) QLD

Sarah Coghill (IDP) Lismore, NSW

Kate Cook (trainee ACRRM) QLD

Janene Davies (Anatomical Path) PQ Brisbane, QLD

Justin Denholm (ID + ethicist+ academic) RMH, U Melbourne, Peter Doherty Institute, VIC

Janath De Silva (IDP) Mackay ,QLD

Andrew Dettrick (AP) Sunshine Coast, QLD

Juliana Ding (trainee gen med) QLD

Rebecca Dixon (RN) Casino Meatworks, NSW

Jane Dyer (IDP/micro) QLD

Jacqueline Epps (GP+ academic) UNE, Armidale, NSW

Tony Ferris (GP) Toowoomba, QLD

Simon Firestone (vet) VIC

Kate Garnham (IDP/micro) Sunshine Coast, QLD

Rosie Geraghty (GP) Roma, QLD

David Godbolt (AP) TPCH, Brisbane, QLD

Stephen Graves (Micro+academic) Vic/NSW

Julian Harris (trainee ID) QLD

Jane Heller (Vet epi/PH Charles Sturt U) NSW

Stephanie Hendry (micro) QLD

Candice Holland (IDP+ PH) QLD

Robert Horvath (IDP/micro) TPCH + PQ Brisbane,QLD

Julie Ann Humphries (cardiology) TPCH and AdvaraHeartCare Greenslopes, Brisbane, QLD

Penny Hutchinson (PH) QLD

Emma Hutton (RN+ PH) West Moreton, QLD

Priya Janagaraj (ID/micro trainee) NSW

Lakshi Kalatharan (ID) Armadale Hospital, Perth, WA

Caitlin Keighley (IDP/micro) Southern IMLP, Wollongong, NSW

Brendan Kennedy (IDP) SA

Karina Kennedy (ID/micro) TCH, ACT

Alison Kennny (RN+ PH) West Moreton, QLD

Natkunam Ketheesan (biomed Sci UNE) NSW

Stephen Lambert (PH) QLD

Angus Lane (ID trainee) RBWH, Brisbane, QLD

Debra Lee (workplace H &S advisor) QLD

Jonathan Lee (vet) QLD

Chrisoph Lehner (Obs) QLD

Muriel Lepester-Thompson (vet) VIC

Grace Leung (ID) NSW

Ricardo J. Soares Magalhães (vet+ academic) UQ Gatton,QLD

Neelam Maheshwari (micro+ academic) Bond U, Gold Coast, QLD

Tonia Marquardt (PH) QLD

Matthew Masel (GP) Goondiwindi, QLD

Peter Massey (PH) NSW

Meryta May (Paeds IDP/micro) QLD

Magdalena Mausolf (ID) QLD

Eilish Moore (medical student) NSW

Renjy Nelson (IDP) SA

Sarah McLay (GP) Emerald, QLD

Michael Nissen (IDP/micro/dir research) TPCH,QLD

Robert Norton (IDP/micro) emiratus QLD

Maxwell Olensky (IDP) Vic

Kimberley Oman (IDP) Townsville, QLD

Sharon Paull (IDP) QLD

Tatiana Proboste (vet spatial analysis UQ) Brisbane, QLD

Jenny Robson (micro SNP) , Brisbane,QLD

Chaturaka Rodrigo (IDP + UNSW) POWH, Sydney, NSW

Ashraf Saleh (GP) Coolum, QLD

Jay Short (PH) QLD

Robyn Silcock (trainee Paeds-ID) QLD

Pirathaban Sivabalan (ID/micro) NSW

Simon Smith (IDP) Cairns, QLD

Nicolas Smoll (PH) QLD

David Sowden (ID/micro) Sunshine Coast, QLD

Jim Stewart (IDP/micro) QLD

Vichitra Sukumaran (IDP/micro) Logan, Brisbane. QML, QLD

Hansen Sun (epidemiologist) Darling Downs PHU, QLD

Alex Tai (IDP) VIC

Teddy Teo (IDP) SA

Ximena Tolosa (epi) QLD

Sarah Tozer (epi CEQ) QLD

Isaac Tranter (GP/PH) QLD

Debra van den Berg (PH) NSW

Nathan Walmsley (GP) Mareeba, QLD

Yong Shen Wee (cardiology) TPCH, Brisbane, QLD

Kelly Wood (vet) NSW

John Woodford (PH) QLD

Ruth Zadoks (vet) NSW

Mei Zheng (vet/Syd Uni) NSW

QFIG Research Groups

QFIG – NEIKER (Spain)

Contact:
Ana Hurtado, PhD
Animal Health Department
NEIKER - Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development
Derio, Bizkaia, Spain
https://neiker.eus/en/

Description of the Animal Health Department of NEIKER:

Activities at the Animal Health Department of NEIKER focus on the surveillance, control and prevention of animal diseases in livestock and at the domestic livestock-wildlife interface. Diseases targeted by research projects include those with the greatest impact on animal health and zoonotic diseases, with the aim of improving animal health and welfare, as well as Public Health. The main objectives include: i) to provide a Diagnostic Service for animal pathologies and to develop new diagnostic tools; ii) to develop and incorporate new technologies and tools to improve the health status of livestock, iii) to protect human health by reducing the incidence of zoonotic pathogens at the primary production level.

Area of Speciality: Research in animal coxiellosis.

With more than 15 years of experience working on Q fever, we have carried out numerous studies in ruminants to estimate the prevalence of infection in livestock farms, describe the circulating C. burnetii genotypes and evaluate the effect of vaccination in herds. We have also participated in the investigation of the animal origin of several human outbreaks in the Basque Country in the last 10 years. We are partners of the Q-Net-Asses European project consortium.

QFIG NEWS

24th October 2022

1st QFIG MDT Case discussion

14th November 2022

1st QFIG full member meeting.

The 5 subcommittees of registry, CRF, lab study, guidelines and data-linkage discussed.

20th Feb 2023

QFIG Extraordinary announcement for enhanced PCR testing (mainly applies to QLD)

24-26 Feb 2023

QFIG advertised at RCPA update

30 March 2023

QFIG talk at Zoosig webinar

April 2023

QFIG advertised at ASID (Adelaide) and ECCMID (Copenhagen)

September 2023

QFIG talk and advertising at Queensland Forensic and Scientific Services.

QFIG tutorials at RVTS (rural vocational training scheme) Brisbane

October 2023

QFIG talk and QFIG advertising at RMA (Hobart/Nipaluna))

March 2024

RCPA Update (Adelaide)

Photo: L to R. R.Horvath, R.Norton, J.Robson, S.Graves.

We thank the RCPA for inviting us to talk about evolving laboratory diagnosis of Q fever.

In addition RCPA distributed a media release on " Q fever is under-diagnosed", which resulted in considerable media attention from rural news networks.

RCPA has been a fantastic supporter of QFIG and QFIG's first national endorser, for which we are eternally grateful!

April 2024

From April 15th, Q fever vaccine data will be able to be entered on the Australian Immunization Register (AIR), including the opportunity to upload the pre-vaccination (serology and skin test) data.

July 2024

Zoonoses 2024 (Sydney)

Clare Nourse spoke on Q fever in pregnancy

We thank Zoosig for the opportunities to promote Q fever

October 2024

QFIG advertised at ACE endocarditis symposium in Brisbane.

First public announcement of proposed Q fever Symposium at Byron Bay June 14-15 2025 !

Further announcements when Symposium is confirmed.

QGIF advertsing Q-gaps (German Q fever collaboration), as a first step towards international collaborations

Complex case EAG meetings

QFIG since October 2022 has been offering a monthly complex case Expert Advisory Group (EAG) meeting.

If you'd like to refer a case, please contact either qfig@health.qld.gov.au or individual QFIG Steering Commitee members.

These meetings generally take place on a Monday at 4PM EST, on a TEAMS platform.

Currently attendance is limited to EAG members, and participants involved in the care of the referred patient.

QFIG presentations at national and international meetings

2023

October

RMA Hobart

Robert Horvath "Q fever cases"

2024

March

RCPA Update Adelaide

Robert Horvath "evolving laboratory diagnosis of Q fever"

June

ASM (Microbiology) Brisbane

Stephen Graves "a new human vaccine against Q fever?"

Lucy O'Shannessy "Developing a quantitative three-dimensional bovine masmmary gland cell model using an automated, high-content confocal imaging platform to investigate Coxiella Burnettii pathogenesis".

Zoonoses Sydney

Claire Nourse "Q fever infection in pregnancy and the newborn".

July

American Society for Rickettsiology, Virginia

Karen Plain "Immunity in guinea pigs induced by a new Q-fever sub-unit vaccine based on the O-polysaccharide of virulent (phase 1) Coxiella burnettii"