Seroprevalence of horses to Coxiella burnetii in an Q fever endemic area

Desjardins, Isabelle; Joulié, Aurélien; Pradier, Sophie; Lecollinet, Sylvie; Beck, Cécile; Vial, Laurence; Dufour, Philippe; Gasqui, Patrick; Legrand, Loïc; Edouard, Sophie; Sidi-Boumedine, Karim; Rousset, Élodie; Jourdain, Elsa; Leblond, Agnès

doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2017.11.012

Cited by 18 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Some environmental and meteorological conditions increase the risk of infection, such as higher wind speeds, soil, and landscapes being more sensitive to wind erosion and low rainfall [15,21,31]. A number of animal species, including pets [32][33][34][35], horses [36,37], birds [38], wildlife, and arthropods (mainly ticks) [39][40][41][42], might also play a role in spreading C. burnetii.The main risk factors for human infection are direct or indirect contact with parturient ruminants [13,19,23,43] and traveling or working in areas where the pathogen is endemic [44][45][46]. Farm and abattoir personnel, along with veterinarians, are occupations considered to be at a higher risk of getting the infection due to the contact with animals [8][9][10]18,47,48].…”

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Coxiella burnetii Antibody Prevalence and Risk Factors of Infection in the Human Population of Estonia

et al. 2019

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Q fever is an emerging health problem in both humans and animals. To estimate the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) antibodies in the Estonian population, we analyzed plasma samples from 1000 individuals representing the general population and 556 individual serum samples from five population groups potentially at a higher risk (veterinary professionals, dairy cattle, beef cattle, and small ruminant stockbreeders and hunters). Additionally, 118 dairy cow bulk tank milk samples were analyzed to establish the infection status of the dairy cattle herds and the participating dairy cattle keepers. Questionnaires were used to find the potential risk factors of exposure. The effects of different variables were evaluated using binary logistic regression analysis and mixed-effects logistic analysis. The prevalence in veterinary professionals (9.62%; p = 0.003) and dairy cattle farmers (7.73%; p = 0.047) was significantly higher than in the general population (3.9%). Contact with production animals in veterinary practice and being a dairy stockbreeder in C. burnetii positive farms were risk factors for testing C. burnetii seropositive (p = 0.038 and p = 0.019, respectively). Results suggest that C. burnetii is present in Estonia and the increased risk of infection in humans is associated with farm animal contact.Microorganisms 2019, 7, 629 2 of 12 estimates should be compared with caution as different approaches to determine seropositivity for Coxiella burnetii infection have been used in these studies. In most studies, indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) [2,3,7,11] or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) [4,13] has been used, and less frequently the complement fixation test (CFT) [13]. The IFA has been shown to be the most sensitive and specific test for C. burnetii antibody detection, but since IFA testing is more laborious, combining ELISA as a primary screening test and IFA as a confirmatory test has been suggested for large-scale population studies [14].Domestic ruminants are considered one of the main infection sources for humans [13,[15][16][17][18][19][20]. The infection transmits to humans mainly through the inhalation of aerosols containing C. burnetii [13,15,19,21] or via direct contact with infected animals [22,23]. In lactating animals, the bacterium is excreted in the milk [24][25][26], and consuming unpasteurized goat's milk, cow's milk, or raw milk products is a risk factor for acquiring the infection [18,23,27]. Coxiella burnetii produces small spore-like forms [28] that enable the pathogen to survive in the environment for long periods of time [29,30]. Some environmental and meteorological conditions increase the risk of infection, such as higher wind speeds, soil, and landscapes being more sensitive to wind erosion and low rainfall [15,21,31]. A number of animal species, including pets [32][33][34][35], horses [36,37], birds [38], wildlife, and arthropods (mainly ticks) [39][40][41][42], might also play a role in spreading C. burnetii.The main risk factors for human infection are dire...

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Coxiella burnetii Antibody Prevalence and Risk Factors of Infection in the Human Population of Estonia

et al. 2019

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“…Furthermore, there are many Coxiella-like bacterial endosymbionts which are widespread in ticks and may have been misidentified as C. burnetii. Desjardins and co-workers in [67] examined the presence of antibodies and DNA of C. burnetii in horses, ticks, and equine environment and the potential expression of clinical disease in horses in Southeast France, a region known to be hyperendemic for human Q fever [68][69][70]. Although few horses (4-12%) reported as seropositive and DNA in ticks and dust being qPCR positive, horse blood was qPCR negative and did not observe any statistical association between seropositive horses and positive ticks.…”

Section: Infectious Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although few horses (4-12%) reported as seropositive and DNA in ticks and dust being qPCR positive, horse blood was qPCR negative and did not observe any statistical association between seropositive horses and positive ticks. Although the analysis consisted of 149 ticks, none of them were O. megnini [67].…”

Section: Infectious Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spinose Ear Tick Otobius megnini Infestations in Race Horses

Rajakaruna¹,

Diyes²

2019

Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens

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Spinose ear tick, Otobius megnini, has a worldwide distribution causing otoacariasis or parasitic otitis in animals and humans. It mainly infests horses and cattle. It is a nidicolous, one-host soft tick spread from the New World to the Old World and is now distributed across all the continents. Only the larvae and nymphs are parasitic, feeding inside the ear canal of the host for a long period. Adult males and females are free-living and nonfeeding, and mating occurs off the host. Being inside the ear canal of the host allows the tick to be distributed over a vast geographic region through the distribution of the host animals. The presence of infectious agents Coxiella burnetii, the agent of Q fever, spotted fever rickettsia, Ehrlichia canis, Borrelia burgdorferi, and Babesia in O. megnini has been reported, but its role as a vector has not been confirmed. Human infestations are mostly associated with horse riding and farming through close contacts with companion animals. Control measures involve use of acaricides, repellants, and biological control methods. However, controlling the tick population and its spread is extremely difficult due to its life cycle pattern, seasonal dynamics, and resistance to certain acaricides.

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“…However, it remains unclear how horses are involved in the Q fever epidemiology [7,8]. In fact, the few serological surveys available [5,7,9,10] Suggest that horses can be exposed to C. burnetii naturally, but these studies are old and conducted with less sensitive serological tests than ELISA tests [11]. Furthermore, C. burnetii DNA Occasionally, was reported in samples of aborted equine or placental fetuses [6].…”

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confidence: 99%

The first serosurvey of equine coxiellosis in Iran

Jaferi

Khalili

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Background: Q fever is a hyper endemic zoonosis in middle east countries. In Iran, serologic studies have been done in cattle, sheep, goat, camel and human. There is any report of Q fever in horse populations and this study is the first serosurvey in this area. Results: A total of 177 serum samples from North and South of Iran were randomly collected and were analyzed for Q fever by a commercial ELISA kit. Anti C.burnetii antibodies were detected in 5.64% of sera samples. Results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in seroprevalence in different sexes, ages and breed groups. Conclusions: This is the first report of Q fever in horses of Iran and our study shows that the impact of Q fever disease on horses' health status in the studied area appears to be important. However, Additional studies are needed to assess whether the horse can be used as a relevant transmission risk indicator for Q fever in this area. Keywords: Coxiella burnetii, Horse, Iran, Q fever, Serology.

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Seroprevalence of horses to Coxiella burnetii in an Q fever endemic area

Cited by 18 publications

References 38 publications

Coxiella burnetii Antibody Prevalence and Risk Factors of Infection in the Human Population of Estonia

Coxiella burnetii Antibody Prevalence and Risk Factors of Infection in the Human Population of Estonia

Spinose Ear Tick Otobius megnini Infestations in Race Horses

The first serosurvey of equine coxiellosis in Iran

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