A regional screening programme has identified some 55 possible cases of chronic Q fever resulting from an infection caught during a widespread outbreak of the disease some 15 years ago.

The screening was carried out by Q Support, an organisation which helps people cope with the aftermath of an infection, on behalf of national health organisation RIVM.

Goat farmers in Noord Brabant, Limburg and parts of Gelderland, Utrecht, Zuid-Holland and Twente were hardest hit by Q fever. Tens of thousands of people were infected between 2007 and 2010, with long-term health problems, including inflammation of heart valves and blood vessels.

Q Support said family doctors called in a limited number of patients and of them only half took part in the screening, bringing the total to just 25% of the intended number. The low rate of participation was due to a lack of time on the part of the family doctors but also a lack of knowledge about the disease, which can be difficult to diagnose, Q Support said.

More is needed to detect the disease so serious problems and deaths can be prevented, the organisation said.

Some 600 people in the Netherlands have chronic Q fever, but a possible 400 to 1,600 people may have the disease without knowing it.

Goat farms continue to be a possible source of infection. A recent report by the RIVM linked goats to an increase in pneumonia and more deaths in people living within a 2-kilometre radius of a farm.