Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of Q fever. In Ukraine, 28 human cases of Q fever were reported between 1997 and 2006; however, there are no state-approved, standardized molecular diagnostic assays that can be used systematically to investigate C. burnetii transmission to humans and its distribution throughout Ukraine. To address this deficiency, we followed the recommendation of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and developed a confirmatory PCR for C. burnetii for veterinary diagnosis in Ukraine. The PCR assay targeted the outer membrane-associated gene com1 in C. burnetii. Oligonucleotide primers were selected that amplify a 689-bp DNA fragment of the com1 gene (primers: CoxF2 = 5¢-ACYGCAGGCGTGGCGATAG-3¢ and CoxR4 = 5¢-TGAAGGTTTTGTTGTGAGGTGGC-3¢). The assay proved highly sensitive and specific to C. burnetii DNA detection (LOD = 0.37 pg/lL). Reproducibility of the test was verified by comparing the PCR results with those of a different PCR protocol and qPCR. Using the CoxF2/CoxR4 primer set and reaction conditions described here, the PCR Diagnostic Kit C. burnetii-PCR-TEST was developed and officially registered for use in Ukraine by the State Scientific Control Institute of Biotechnology and Strains (Kyiv, Ukraine) for diagnostic purposes.

The article presents the results of studying the prevalence and species composition of ticks in the southern and south-eastern regions of Ukraine. During 2019-2021 15644 ticks were collected in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. Three species of ticks were identified: Dermacentor marginatus -7230 individuals (46.2% of all collected ticks), Ixodes ricinus -5317 individuals (34.0%) and Hyalomma marginatum -3097 individuals (19.8%). It has been established that Dermacentor marginatus is the dominant species among ticks found in Odesa (68.0% of the total number of ticks collected in the region), Kherson (50.8%), Zaporizhzhia (41.4%) and Kharkiv (88.1%) regions. In Mykolaiv region, ticks of the species Ixodes ricinus are most common (53.2%). The prevalence of Hyalomma marginatum ticks does not exceed the prevalence of other types of ticks in any of the regions, however, their largest number was found in Mykolaiv region (43.53%), and the smallestin Kharkiv region (0.17%).

Інститут ветеринарної медицини НААН 2 Державний науково-дослідний інститут з лабораторної діагностики та ветеринарно-санітарної експертизи РОЗПОВСЮДЖЕННЯ ХВОРОБИ АУЄСКІ СЕРЕД ПОГОЛІВ'Я ДИКИХ КАБАНІВ НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ УКРАЇНИ ЗА 2010-2019 РР.

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Epidemiologichna ta kliniko-laboratorna xarakterystyka xarchovoyi toksykoinfekciyi, shho vyklykana zbudnykom Salmonella enteritidis [Epidemiological, clinical and bacteriological study of food born bacterial infection associated with Salmonella enteritidis]. Naukovyj visnyk Uzhgorodskogo universytetu