Q fever seroprevalence in small ruminants in Spain is found to be close to 50%

Published 2024년 10월 25일

Tridge summary

A recent study conducted by a team of researchers in Spain has found a high seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii, the bacterium that causes Q fever, in small ruminants (sheep and goats) in the Mediterranean ecosystems of southern Spain. The overall individual seroprevalence was 49.1%, with goats showing a higher seropositivity than sheep. The study also found that reproductive disorders in primiparous females were a potential risk factor for exposure to C. burnetii on small ruminant farms. In contrast, wild ruminants (red deer, mouflons, and Iberian ibex) showed a low seroprevalence of 1.5%. The researchers warn that the high exposure of small ruminants to C. burnetii, especially goats, highlights the need for increased surveillance and control measures to prevent the spread of Q fever in both animal and public health.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Q fever is a multi-host zoonotic disease of interest to animal and public health, caused by the Coxiella burnetii bacterium, with ruminants being its main reservoirs. In fact, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently included Q fever among the priorities for establishing a coordinated surveillance system. Although Spain is the European Union country with the highest human incidence of the disease, updated data on Coxiella burnetii in ruminants remains limited. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Córdoba and the Carlos III Health Institute, among others, has published a study that has determined the seroprevalence and identified risk factors for exposure to Coxiella burnetii in domestic ruminants (390 sheep and 390 goats) and wild ruminants (390 red deer, 110 mouflons and 105 mountain goats) in the Mediterranean ecosystems of southern Spain. Thus, the researchers collected a total of 780 serum samples from small ruminants and 605 sera from wild ruminants ...

Source: Animalshealth