| 释义 |
Q fever|ˈkjuː ˌfiːvə(r)|
[f. the initial letter of query n.1 + fever n.1]
A disease caused by the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii that is variable in symptoms and often resembles influenza.
1937E. H. Derrick in Med. Jrnl. Australia 21 Aug. 282/1 The suspicion arose and gradually grew into a conviction that we were here dealing with a type of fever which had not been previously described. It became necessary to give it a name, and ‘Q’ fever was chosen to denote it until fuller knowledge should allow a better name. 1947Ann. Rev. Microbiol. I. 342 The serological diagnosis of Q fever is at present the only satisfactory one for routine work, since the clinical picture is such that Q fever may be confused with a number of other diseases. 1964E. H. Derrick in Queensland's Health Dec. 11/2 ‘X’ is a recognised term for an unknown quantity. But Australia already had an ‘X disease’, now known as Murray valley encephalitis. However, the rest of the alphabet was open. Query also signified the unknown. ‘Q (for query) fever’ it became. Ibid., Many have wrongly assumed that the ‘Q’ stands for Queensland. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Med. LXXI. 765 There appear to have been no further military outbreaks of Q fever until the Cyprus epidemic of 1974. |