| Media item | |
| | Perrett shares Q fever story | Queensland Country Life,
Brisbane
by Ellouise Bailey
| 14 Mar 2024 | | General News - Page 11 - 597 words - ID 2048841396 - Photo: Yes - Type: News Item - Size: 478.00cm2 | |
TONY Perrett was assisting heifers to calve on his Kilkivan property in 2007.
Three weeks later he contracted Q fever.
The current Gympie MP and Queensland shadow minister for agriculture hopes sharing his story will prompt others to consider vaccination.
He was born and bred around cattle so was always aware of Q fever, but never understood the seriousness and ramifications of it until he ended up bed-bound and feverish.
"I was healthy one day and couldn't get out of bed the following day, it just hit me overnight, and it was certainly the sickest I can remember ever being in my life," he said.
He was 37 at the time and said although he was lucky not to develop a chronic case, he felt symptoms return whenever he was tired or run down for a long time afterwards.
"Whenever I got tired or run down, I believe that I used to get symptoms again, so I would break out into hot and cold sweats, and that happened for many months, if not years afterwards," he said.
He considered himself lucky he never landed in the hospital, unlike one of his contract musterers who did, after catching Q fever.
Following his experience, he encouraged his wife to get vaccinated and later his two daughters when they were old enough given the family run a couple thousand head at their property.
"I am a strong advocate for anyone that maybe susceptible to picking up Q fever to get the vaccination," he said.
Mr Perrett said the federal government ran a free vaccination program for high risk industries between 2001 and 2006.
"I could have actually got vaccinated but I just never got around to getting it done and that frustrated me," he said.
"Anyone who I come in contact with that may be in a high risk category, I certainly encourage them to get tested and if they test negative, to get the vaccination."
Between 200 and 400 cases of Q fever are identified in Queensland each year but the uptake of vaccination is impacted by the cost and wait times.
Mr Perrett thought there was merit in assisting, particularly those in high risk professions or areas, to access the vaccine.
"Anything that can aid the vaccination in a positive way I am in full support of," he said.
"I would advocate for further funding, anything that can deal with the issue and lessen the impact on human health makes sense, so happy to be an advocate for that absolutely."
Deb Brown, who works in an admin role at Mr Perrett's office, grew up on a beef cattle property at Gootchie.
Last year, she and partner Simon Myers decided to get vaccinated after hearing Mr Perret's story.
"We have a small farm located at Widgee just outside of Gympie running both sheep and cattle," she said.
"We've got breeding girls and we're often there in case there's an issue and you've got to pull the calf out.
"We've only got 15 head of cattle and some sheep, but it doesn't matter whether you've got five head or 500, it could potentially get you.
I feel that hobby or small farmers would not necessarily know about the vaccine nor the effects Q fever can have on a person, and would not see it as a necessity."
She said the cost of the vaccine wasn't a big deterrent, but it was difficult to get the appointments done.
Caption Text:
Gympie MP and Queensland shadow minister for agriculture, Tony Perrett, contracted Q fever after assisting breeders with calving in 2007. Picture: File
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