workers.

The Q Fever vaccine and skin test are now available to abattoir workers and those closely associated with the meat processing industry; sheep shearers and those who work in shearing sheds, sheep, dairy and cattle farmers and their employees; and people who live on farms.

The reintroduction of the vaccine and skin test follows an outbreak of Q Fever in the Jamestown area during November and December last year.

South Australian Health Department Communicable Disease Control Branch Director, Dr Rod Givney, said the outbreak resulted in the SA Immunisation Coordination Unit seeking recommencement of the Q Fever management program in this State.

Referring to the Jamestown outbreak, Dr Givney said it was interesting that this had not been an area with a history of Q Fever.

"What we worked out was that almost all the infections were connected with one sheep sale," he said.

"The infections seem to have begun on October 21, but the disease has a slow

incubation period and the onset seems to have been November 6, and we began hearikng from doctors about as month later."

Dr Givney urged rural workers to ask their

doctor about the vaccination.

"Vaccination involves pre-vaccination screening in the form of a skin test, with vaccination taking place seven days afterwards," he said. "While vaccination is free , individuals will need to pay their own GP's costs."