an acute disease characterized by fever and pneumonia, transmitted to humans by the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii
Word origin
C20: from q(uery) fever (the cause being unknown when it was named)
Q fever in American English
a mild illness characterized by fever, headache, muscular pains, and pneumonia, transmitted by contact or ticks, and caused by a rickettsia (Coxiella burnetii)
Word origin
< query: so named because of many unanswered questions about the disease when first identified