Screening for  in dairy cattle herds in Poland

The intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii is the aetiological agent of Q fever, a zoonosis affecting many animal species worldwide. Cattle and small ruminants are considered the major reservoirs of the bacteria and they shed it through multiple routes.

Material and Methods

A total of 2,180 sera samples from 801 cattle herds in all Polish voivodeships were tested by ELISA for the presence of specific antibodies. Milk samples were obtained from seropositive cows in 133 herds as part of a separate study. The milk samples were examined by ELISA and real-time PCR tests.

Results

Seroprevalence at the animal level was 7.06% and true positive seroprevalence was 6.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–9.4). Seroprevalence at the herd level was estimated at 11.1% and true positive seroprevalence was 10.5% (95% CI 3.2–15.8). Shedding of the pathogen in milk was detected by real-time PCR in 33 out of 133 tested herds (24.81%, 95% CI 17.74–33.04%) and the presence of C. burnetii antibodies was confirmed in 85 of them (63.9%, 95% CI 55.13–72.05%). The highest level of conformity between ELISA and real-time PCR results was obtained for bulk tank milk samples.

Conclusion

Coxiella burnetii infections are quite common in cattle herds across the country, which emphasises the crucial roles of surveillance and adequate biosecurity measures in the prevention and limitation of Q fever spread in Poland.

eISSN:: 2450-8608
Langue:: Anglais

Périodicité:: 4 fois par an
Sujets de la revue:: Life Sciences, Molecular Biology, other, Microbiology and Virology, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine

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Screening for Coxiella burnetii in dairy cattle herds in Poland

Publié en ligne: 18 déc. 2022

Pages: 549 - 557

Reçu: 19 oct. 2022

Accepté: 06 déc. 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2022-0070

Mots clésQ fever, cattle, seroprevalence, prevalence

© 2022 M. Szymańska-Czerwińska et al. published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Introduction

Material and Methods

Results

Conclusion

Mots clés
Q fever, cattle, seroprevalence, prevalence