Environmental Exposure to Coxiella Burnetii: A Sero-Epidemiologic Survey Among Domestic Animals

Abstract

The prevalence of agglutinating serum antibodies against Coxiella burnetii, the cause of Q fever in humans, was tested in a hospital population of companion animals and livestock in California during 1973--1975. A sample of stray dogs was also tested. Among the hospitalized animals 346 (48%) of 724 dogs, 7 (9%) of 80 cats, 9 (32%) of 28 cattle and 31 (26%) of 121 horses had antibodies against C. burnetii. Of 316 stray dogs 208 (66%) were seropositive. The overall prevalence of 53% among 1040 dogs tested was comparable to the 63% antibody prevalence found in an earlier survey among coyotes and foxes in wildlife areas of California. When the dog was considered as a sentinel animal for the presence of C. burnetii surrounding household environments, it was hypothesized that the common, low level exposures in the community are similar to those found in more remote wildlife areas.

Seroepidemiology of Q fever among domestic animals in Nova Scotia.

“…Randhawa and coworkers'8 found that 19.8 per cent of pound cats from the southern California area had antibodies to phase I C. burnetii antigen by the capillary agglutination test. Willeberg,et al,19 using the microagglutination test found that 9 per cent of stray cats had antibodies to phase II C. burnetii antigen.…”

Serological evidence of Coxiella burnetii infection among companion dogs in Fars Province, South Iran

“…The present seroprevalence was higher than that reported in new states of Federal Republic of Germany (3%, n=1620) (Kramer, 1991), North Italy (0.87%, n=802) (Baldelli et al,1992), New Zealand (0%, n=12556) (Hilbink et al, 1993) and Canada (0%, n=447) (Marrie et al, 1985), but lower than reported seropositivity in Australia (11.4%, n=201) (Cooper et al, 2011), Southern Croatia (12%, n=51) (Punda-Polić et al, 1994), Japan (15%, n=632) (Htwe et al, 1992), Nigeria (29%, n=786) (Addo & Bale, 1981), Switzerland (31%, n=388) (Metzler et al, 1983) and California (66%, n=316) (Willeberg et al, 1980). Although there is no information about Q fever in dogs population in Iran, Asadi et al (2012) reported 19.5% and 27.2% seroprevalence of C. burnetii in sheep and goats respectively (Asadi et al, 2012).…”

Seroepidemiologic Survey for Coxiella burnetii Among US Military Personnel Deployed to Southwest and Central Asia in 2005

“…Dogs can be infected with C. burnetii and have been suspected as a source of Q fever in humans. 19,20 The Q fever seroprevalence in feral dogs in Iraq was 5.5% from 2007 to 2008. 21 It is, therefore, conceivable that exposure to dogs could have contributed to the outbreak in Al Asad.…”