Department of Biometry, Epidemiology and Information Processing, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training for Health in the Human-Animal-Environment Interface, University for Veterinary Medicine Hanover, Hanover, Germany.
PLoS One. 2022 Mar 3;17(3):e0264629. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264629. eCollection 2022.
Q fever is a zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii. In Germany, the common sources of human infections include small ruminants that excrete the pathogen. Q fever in humans can be asymptomatic or nonspecific. However, severe disease progression is also possible, which can lead to death. Q fever in small ruminants is usually asymptomatic, although reproductive disorders may occur. To protect humans from Q fever, it is important that human and veterinary health professionals (practitioners/health authority employees) have comprehensive knowledge of the diagnosis, control and prevention of Q fever, and its zoonotic potential. To ensure and enhance this understanding, this stakeholder analysis assessed Q fever expertise in human and veterinary health professionals in Germany and investigated how these knowledge gaps can best be resolved. For this purpose, an online survey and two focus group discussions were conducted with 836 and 18 participants, respectively. Knowledge gaps are due to a lack of awareness of Q fever, especially among human health practitioners. Moreover, colleagues who have heard about Q fever still lack the necessary cross-species knowledge to successfully diagnose, control and prevent this zoonosis. Additionally, differences exist between stakeholders regarding their work context and the region in which they work. In this study, stakeholders in southwestern Germany had slightly better Q fever knowledge than their colleagues in northeastern Germany. In addition, information sources aimed at resolving knowledge gaps involve direct conversations between the stakeholders, as well as reading materials and seminars. Each of these information sources should focus on interdisciplinary resources to strengthen the cooperation between human and veterinary health professionals and to raise awareness of the strengths of each stakeholder group. These results have already been implemented by the Q-GAPS project, with goals of raising awareness of Q fever and filling knowledge gaps.
Q 热是由贝氏柯克斯体引起的一种动物源性传染病。在德国，人类感染的常见来源包括排泄病原体的小反刍动物。人类 Q 热可能无症状或无特异性。然而，严重的疾病进展也是可能的，这可能导致死亡。小反刍动物中的 Q 热通常无症状，但可能发生生殖障碍。为了保护人类免受 Q 热的侵害，人类和兽医卫生专业人员（从业者/卫生当局员工）必须全面了解 Q 热的诊断、控制和预防及其动物源性潜力。为了确保和增强这种理解，这项利益相关者分析评估了德国人类和兽医卫生专业人员中 Q 热的专业知识，并调查了如何最好地解决这些知识差距。为此，进行了一项在线调查和两次焦点小组讨论，分别有 836 名和 18 名参与者参加。知识差距是由于对 Q 热缺乏认识，特别是在人类卫生从业者中。此外，听说过 Q 热的同事仍然缺乏必要的跨物种知识，无法成功诊断、控制和预防这种动物源性传染病。此外，利益相关者在工作背景和工作地区方面存在差异。在这项研究中，德国西南部的利益相关者比德国东北部的同事对 Q 热的了解略好一些。此外，旨在解决知识差距的信息来源涉及利益相关者之间的直接对话，以及阅读材料和研讨会。这些信息来源中的每一个都应该侧重于跨学科资源，以加强人类和兽医卫生专业人员之间的合作，并提高对每个利益相关者群体优势的认识。这些结果已经在 Q-GAPS 项目中得到实施，该项目的目标是提高对 Q 热的认识和填补知识差距。
