title: Use of a Dose-Response Model to Study Temporal Trends in Spatial Exposure to Coxiella burnetii: Analysis of a Multiyear Outbreak of Q Fever.
abstract: The Netherlands underwent a large Q fever outbreak between 2007 and 2009. In this paper, we study spatial and temporal Coxiella burnetii exposure trends during this large outbreak as well as validate outcomes against other published studies and provide evidence to support hypotheses on the causes of the outbreak. To achieve this, we develop a framework using a dose-response model to translate acute Q fever case incidence into exposure estimates. More specifically, we incorporate a geostatistical model that accounts for spatial and temporal correlation of exposure estimates from a human Q fever dose-response model to quantify exposure trends during the outbreak. The 2051 cases, with the corresponding age, gender and residential addresses, reside in the region with the highest attack rates during the outbreak in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2009. We conclude that the multiyear outbreak in the Netherlands is caused by sustained release of infectious bacteria from the same sources, which suggests that earlier implementation of interventions may have prevented many of the cases. The model predicts the risk of infection and acute symptomatic Q fever from multiple exposure sources during a multiple-year outbreak providing a robust, evidence-based methodology to support decision-making and intervention design.
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Brooke
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Disease Control, RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.|Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: P F M
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Teunis
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Centre for Infectious Disease Control, RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M E E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kretzschmar
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Disease Control, RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.|Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Jeroen Bosch Hospital, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C C H
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wielders
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Jeroen Bosch Hospital, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Schneeberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Waller
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D016997:Coxiella burnetii; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011778:Q Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: 
  Coxiella burnetii
  ; Q fever; dose-response; model-based geostatistics; outbreak