During what is proving to be one of Japan's hottest summers in recent memory, most people are concentrating on ways to beat the heat. Heat-related ailments pose a great health risk, especially among the very young and very old. It appears, however, that this summer the public should be paying even more attention to the possible threat of infectious disease. The Health and Welfare Ministry has just announced an outbreak in this country of Q-fever, an illness contracted from animals that is so rare most people have never heard of it. It can cause pneumonia and serious liver ailments, but because many hospitals are unaware of how to treat the disease it may be wrongly diagnosed, with possibly fatal results.

The bacterium responsible for the illness is found in pets as well as livestock, but only one previous case had been reported in Japan. Now, following a two-year study of patients suffering from lung ailments of unknown cause at hospitals in Miyagi Prefecture, the ministry has announced that eight were infected with the pathogen responsible for Q-fever. Once the disease advances in the body, it becomes increasingly difficult to treat.

While the outbreak does not yet represent a major health emergency, it does underscore the need for immediate action to inform hospitals nationwide of the correct diagnostic and treatment procedures. Specialists warn, for example, that Q-fever must be treated with antibiotics of the tetracycline type, not the penicillin type used to treat pneumonia.