Q Fever awareness and risk profiles among agricultural show attendees.
Megan J Hobbs, Natkunam Ketheesan, Keith Eastwood and 4 others
PMID 35816572WHAT IT FOUND
Only 62% of 344 agricultural show attendees had heard of Q fever, and slightly less than 10% were vaccinated or likely immune.
Forty percent were high risk and 21% medium risk. Awareness did not match exposure risk.
Key findings
0162% of 344 agricultural show attendees had previously heard of Q fever.
02Slightly less than 10% of the 344 participants had been vaccinated or had likely immunity based on previous diagnosis or serology.
03Forty per cent were at high risk, 21% at medium risk, and 30% at low risk of Q fever exposure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample of attendees at an agricultural show, so it may not represent rural or farming communities more broadly. It relied on self-report rather than serology, so vaccination and immunity status were not verified. The brief assessment was done in a high-footfall show setting and did not collect personal experiences of Q fever. It measured awareness and risk, not whether information provision or screening changed vaccination behaviour.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that awareness of Q fever led to vaccination. Awareness was 62%, but slightly less than 10% were vaccinated or likely immune, and the study did not test whether providing information increased vaccination.