Although associated with livestock and rural workers, the potentially deadly Q fever can affect anyone, yet development of an improved vaccine is stalled by lack of funding.
Story + Photos Mandy McKeesick
In the mid-1980s John Milovankic was working as a cleaner in a meatworks in Brisbane when he was struck down by a mystery illness. “I got chills, headaches, sweats, high fever; the doctors didn’t know what it was and they nearly sucked my blood dry, testing for everything,” he says of the experience that put him in hospital for a week. “I don’t remember much of it, but my better half tells me I was delirious and that the doctors had trouble getting my temperature down.”
John eventually tested positive for, and fully recovered from, Q fever, a potentially lethal bacterial illness, originally associated with rural workers, but now known to have the capacity to impact anyone. The bacterium is Coxiella burnetii, which is so virulent it has been mooted as a bioweapon.
Q fever takes several forms, starting with the acute version experienced by John, followed by fatigue, which can last for months and years, and then the long-term chronic version, which can lead to heart problems. In rare cases, in children, it has presented as osteomyelitis, a bone infection. It came to the attention of the medical world in 1937 when abattoir workers in Australia exhibited symptoms similar to John’s. Its cause was unknown and so it was initially termed query fever, which over time has transformed into Q fever.
This story excerpt is from issue #168
Outback Magazine: Aug/Sep 2026
