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Evaluation of the possibility of C. burnetii transmission by the alimentary route in a guinea pig model

Agnieszka Jodełko

Agnieszka Jodełko

Department of Cattle and Sheep DiseasesPuławy, Poland
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Jodełko, Agnieszka
, 
Monika Szymańska-Czerwińska

Monika Szymańska-Czerwińska

Department of Cattle and Sheep DiseasesPuławy, Poland
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Szymańska-Czerwińska, Monika
, 
Anna Kycko

Anna Kycko

Department of Pathology, National Veterinary Research InstitutePuławy, Poland
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Kycko, Anna
 and 
Krzysztof Niemczuk

Krzysztof Niemczuk

Department of Cattle and Sheep DiseasesPuławy, Poland
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Niemczuk, Krzysztof
  
Sep 13, 2019
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Published Online: Sep 13, 2019
Page range: 311 - 315
Received: Jun 04, 2019
Accepted: Aug 12, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2019-0055
Keywords
© 2019 A Jodełko et al. published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Introduction

Q fever (coxiellosis) is an infectious disease of animals and humans, caused by.C. burnetii and widely distributed throughout the world. It is known that people and animals acquire the disease predominantly.via inhalation of infectious aerosols. The possibility of transmission of the pathogen by the alimentary route is still a matter of debate and remains controversial. Therefore the aim of this study was to fill the gaps in knowledge of oral transmission of.C. burnetii by conducting biological tests on the guinea pig model.

Material and Methods

Guinea pigs, divided into five groups comprising a negative control and four experimental groups, received specified concentrations of.C. burnetii per os. To determine the presence of specific antibodies, blood samples were tested using CFT. Also, internal organs collected during necropsy were screened by a real-time PCR targeting I.1111. Additionally, histopathological evaluation of the tissues was performed.

Results

The presence of antibodies and pathogen DNA in caecum was confirmed in one guinea pig from experimental group IV..C. burnetii was also detected in testicular tissue collected from one animal of experimental group II.

Conclusions

The presence of pathogen DNA in the testicular tissue indicates that infection spreads haematogenously. In the majority of experimental animals specific antibodies and genetic material of.C. burnetii were not detected. This fact suggests that development of infection depends on many factors, such as animal immune status.

Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
4 times per year
Journal Subjects:
Life Sciences, Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Virology, Life Sciences, other, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine
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