Genotyping of Coxiella burnetii in sheep and goat abortion samples

Abstract

BackgroundQ fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a zoonosis that presents a worldwide distribution and affects both humans and animals. The route of dispersal of the pathogen by ruminants into the environment usually involves stages of abortion and parturition, nevertheless the agent can, also, be detected in other animal samples. Therefore it is considered as important in terms of proper diagnosis, as well as, for epidemiology and surveillance purposes, to genotype the pathogen. The aim of the current study was to investigate the presence of different genotypes of the agent in animals that had suffered from abortion during a two-year survey in Greece.ResultsSixty nine tissue samples (37 stomach contents, 11 liver samples, 21 cotyledons) were collected from 59 abortion cases in sheep (N = 45) and goats (N = 14) from 65 farms at eight different areas of Greece. Samples were screened by qPCR and positive ones were further genotyped using a 10-locus multiple loci (ms 1, 3, 7, 12, 20, 21, 22, 26, 30 and 36) variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) method.Three genotypes were identified in sheep (A, B, C). Samples representing each of the obtained MLVA profile were further used for MST genotyping. Ten spacers (Cox 2, 5, 6, 18, 20, 22, 37, 51, 56 and 57) were amplified. A close relatedness among the identified MLVA genotypes was confirmed since they all belonged to MST group 32.ConclusionsThe current study introduces into the aspect of genotyping of C. burnetii in Greece. Further studies are needed to explore the presence of more genotypes, to associate the genotypes circulating in the animal and tick population with those causing human disease in order to further expand on the epidemiological aspects of the pathogen.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-018-1353-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Sero‐epidemiology investigation of Coxiella burnetii in domestic ruminants throughout most Greek regions

“…Although validated commercial ELISA kits are routinely used for the detection of C. burnetii in productive animals with high sensitivity and specificity, a limitation of our study is that we did not confirm our results by a specific immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Moreover, we did not perform molecular assays in positive samples to detect the C. burnetii genotypes that circulate in productive animals in Greece (Chochlakis et al., 2018). We believe that the determination of C. burnetii genotypes would be important as the clinical manifestations of Q fever in human depend, at least in part, on the C. burnetii genotype (Angelakis et al., 2012).…”

“…However, we recently raised the question of the under-diagnosis of human C. burnetii infections in Greece (Karageorgou et al, 2020). Previously, it was found that the C. burnetii genotype MST32 is circulating in sheep and goat at eight different areas of Northern Greece (Chochlakis et al, 2018). However, most…”

“…However, we recently raised the question of the under‐diagnosis of human C. burnetii infections in Greece (Karageorgou et al., 2020). Previously, it was found that the C. burnetii genotype MST32 is circulating in sheep and goat at eight different areas of Northern Greece (Chochlakis et al., 2018). However, most Greek regions are still considered as Q fever free possibly because of the low interest for this agent and to the best of our knowledge only two sero‐epidemiological studies have been previously conducted to estimate C. burnetii in domestic ruminants in Greece (Filioussis et al., 2017; Pape et al., 2009).…”

Q Fever Endocarditis and a New Genotype of Coxiella burnetii, Greece

“…Moreover, we identified a new C. burnetii genotype in the aortic valve of a patient who had Q fever endocarditis. Recently, it was found that C. burnetii genotype 32 is circulating in sheep and goat in 8 different areas of Greece (10). The clinical manifestations of Q fever depend, at least in part, on the C. burnetii genotype (5).…”

Phylogeography of Human and Animal Coxiella burnetii Strains: Genetic Fingerprinting of Q Fever in Belgium

“…MST genotyping reveals that the spacer types (ST)-8, ST-18, ST-20 are widespread over Europe, while other genotypes were found only in some countries (i.e. ST-32 in Greece and central Italy, ST-13 in Spain and Portugal, ST-4 in France and Portugal, ST-17 in French Guiana) (Glazunova et al, 2005;Chmielewski et al, 2009;Astobiza et al, 2012;Reichel et al, 2012;Santos et al, 2012;Di Domenico et al, 2014;Sulyok et al, 2014;Ceglie et al, 2015;Chochlakis et al, 2018).…”