Three hundred and Q fever patients drag the state to court Monday. They feel that the government is to blame for their illness by far too long to wait before taking action, says Luc Rohof, lawyer of the victims.
Q fever epidemic raged from 2007 to 2010. The disease spread through infected goat farms, first in Brabant and later all over the country. Officially, there are already 75 people deceased from the disease. But in reality there are probably many more, because doctors often difficult to recognize the disease.
,, The irony is that goat farmers are compensated well, while the patients are now in their misery. The government has for two years been keeping the boat instead of fast acting '' says Rohof.
Appropriate measures
He points out that in previous animal diseases such as bird flu and swine fever, there were immediately taken appropriate measures. ,, Then there were measures taken obvious as a breeding ban, a transport ban and uitrijverbod manure '.
Rohof will not say what compensation demands victims yet. ,, First we want an admission of liability, I call no concrete amounts '' now. The court expects that many claimants will attend the meeting.
The province of North Brabant called last month Minister Edith Schippers (Health) on people who have been infected possible to detect with the Q fever bacteria. Following is a report from earlier this year showing that the effects of the disease in the long term can be much more damaging than previously thought.
By Editors AD: Photo: Reuters
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