ABSTRACT
Dr. E.H. Derrick, director of the laboratory section of the Queensland Health Department in Australia, Šrst described Q fever in 1937, following outbreaks, which had been occurring since 1933, among a large number of workers in a meat plant in Brisbane.1 The disease was Šrst named “abattoir fever” or “Queensland rickettsia fever” but was Šnally called “Q fever” (the “Q” standing for “query”) to highlight the uncertainties concerning its etiology and epidemiology and to avoid directing negative connotations at either the cattle industry or the state of Queensland.2
