Q fever

noun

Definition of Q fever

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

Origin and Etymology of q fever

query

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1937

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

Medical Dictionary

Q fever

noun

medical Definition of Q fever

: a disease that is characterized by high fever, chills, muscular pains, headache, and sometimes pneumonia, that is caused by a gram-negative 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)