Q fever

Q fever

noun

Definition of Q FEVER

: a disease that is characterized by high fever, chills, muscular pains, headache, and sometimes pneumonia, that is caused by a rickettsial bacterium of the genus Coxiella (C. burnetii) of which domestic animals serve as reservoirs, and that is transmitted to humans especially by inhalation of infective airborne bacteria (as in contaminated dust)