Tropical Animal Health and Production

, Volume 48, Issue 2, pp 423–426 | Cite as

High seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii in dairy cattle in China

  • Heba S. El-Mahallawy
  • Patrick Kelly
  • Jilei Zhang
  • Yi Yang
  • Hui Zhang
  • Lanjing Wei
  • Yongjiang Mao
  • Zhangping Yang
  • Zhenwen Zhang
  • Weixing Fan
  • Chengming Wang
Regular Articles

Abstract

Coxiella burnetii is the agent of Q fever, a zoonosis which occurs worldwide. As there is little reliable data on the organism in China, we investigated C. burnetii infections in dairy cattle herds around the country. Opportunistic whole blood samples were collected from 1140 dairy cattle in 19 herds, and antibodies to phase I and II C. burnetii antigens were detected using commercial ELISA kits. Seropositive cattle (381/1140, 33 %) were detected in 13 of the 15 surveyed provinces and in 16 of the 19 herds (84 %) studied. Our data indicates C. burnetii is widespread in China and that animal and human health workers should be aware of the possibility of Q fever infection in their patients.

Keywords

Coxiella burnetii Q fever Dairy cattle Seroprevalence China 

Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, P. R. China (http://jsycw.ec.js.edu.cn) and a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No: 31272575]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Compliance with ethical standard

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics statement

Protocols for the collection of animal samples were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Yangzhou University College of Veterinary Medicine. The animal owners gave written permission for the collection of the whole blood samples.

References

  1. Arricau-Bouvery, N. and Rodolakis A., 2005. Is Q fever an emerging or re-emerging zoonosis? Veterinary Reservoir, 36, 327–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW), 2010. Scientific opinion on Q fever, EFSA Journal, 8, 1595–1708.Google Scholar
  3. El-Mahallawy, H.S., Lu, G., Kelly, P., Xu, D., Li, Y., Fan, W. and Wang C., 2015. Q fever in China: a systematic review, 1989–2013. Epidemiology and Infection, 143, 673–681.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Marrie, T.J., Langille, D., Papukna, V. and Yates, L., 1989. Truckin’ pneumonia: an outbreak of Q fever in a truck repair plant probably due to aerosols from clothing contaminated by contact with newborn kittens, Epidemiology and Infection, 102, 119–127.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Maurin, M. and Raoult, D., 1999. Q fever, Clinical Microbiological Review, 12, 518–553.Google Scholar
  6. Porter, S.R., Czaplicki, G., Mainil, J., Guatteo, R. and Saegerman, C., 2011. Q Fever: current state of knowledge and perspectives of research of a neglected zoonosis, International Journal of Microbiology, 248418.Google Scholar
  7. Roest, H.I., Tilburg, J.J., van der Hoek, W., Vellema, P., van Zijderveld, F.G., Klaassen, C.H. and Raoult, D., 2011. The Q fever epidemic in The Netherlands: history, onset, response and reflection, Epidemiology and Infection, 139, 1–12.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Schimmer, B., Dijkstra, F., Velllema, P., Schneeberger, P.M., Hackert, V., ter Schegget, R., Wijkmans, C., van Duynhoven, Y. and van der Hoek, W., 2009. Sustained intensive transmission of Q fever in the south of the Netherlands, Euro Surveillence, 14(19), pii: 19210.Google Scholar
  9. Zhai, S.C. and Liu, S.H., 1957. Q fever: report of a case, Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine, 5, 316.Google Scholar
  10. Zhang, N.C., Xie, S.W., Liu, F.T. and Zhao, S.X., 1951. Preliminary study on the problem of Q fever in Beijing, Chinese Medical Journal, 37, 235.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Heba S. El-Mahallawy
    • 1
    • 2
  • Patrick Kelly
    • 3
  • Jilei Zhang
    • 1
  • Yi Yang
    • 1
  • Hui Zhang
    • 4
  • Lanjing Wei
    • 1
  • Yongjiang Mao
    • 5
  • Zhangping Yang
    • 5
  • Zhenwen Zhang
    • 6
  • Weixing Fan
    • 4
  • Chengming Wang
    • 1
  1. 1.Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for the Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and ZoonosesYangzhou University College of Veterinary MedicineYangzhouChina
  2. 2.Department of Animal Hygiene, Zoonoses and Animal Behavior and Management, Faculty of Veterinary MedicineSuez Canal UniversityIsmailiaEgypt
  3. 3.Ross University School of Veterinary MedicineSt. Kitts & NevisWest Indies
  4. 4.Laboratory of Zoonosis, China Animal Health and Epidemiology CenterQingdaoChina
  5. 5.Yangzhou University College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhouChina
  6. 6.Yangzhou University College of MedicineYangzhouChina

Personalised recommendations