During a recently held Q-fever conference in Breda, the Netherlands, Q-fever specialist Stephen Graves from Australia said: "By killing the goats, you don't kill the bacteria yet, but you do destroy an important agricultural sector. The problem is the people, not the animals"
Instead of the mass culling, Graves therefore advocates vaccination of young animals in combination with vaccination of humans. In Australia, already for 20 years people are being vaccinated against Q-fever.
France and Belgium also don't use mass culling of animals, because they also say that the bacteria present in the environment can not be eradicated this way.
The Netherlands is investigating the use of vaccination. In June, the decision about this should be made.
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