Abstract
Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii. In Turkey, it has been reported from the late 1940s that Q fever is endemic in humans and animals. Our objective was to evaluate the seroprevalence in Samsun Tekkeköy (north Turkey), where an outbreak of Q fever occurred in 2002. In this cross-sectional study, subjects were selected by the random proportional sampling method. All subjects were healthy with no specific symptoms and tested by the microimmunofluorescent antibody test. In total, we tested 407 subjects; 33 (8.1%) of them were identified as past evidence of infection and 22 (5.4%) were considered as evolutive form of Q fever (17 acute and five chronic forms). The seroprevalence was significantly higher among people over 30 years of age, hunters, and slaughters than the others (p = 0.001, p = 0.034, and p = 0.006, respectively). We found 13.5% seropositivity among healthy subjects, confirming that Q fever is prevalent in our region and is often asymptomatic.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Maurin M, Raoult D (1999) Q fever. Clin Microbiol Rev 12(4):518–553
Marrie TJ, Langille D, Papukna V, 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. Epidemiol Infect 102(1):119–127
Babudieri B (1959) Q fever: a zoonosis. Adv Vet Sci 5:82–182
Marrie TJ, Raoult D (2002) Update on Q fever, including Q fever endocarditis. Curr Clin Top Infect Dis 22:97–124
Stein A, Raoult D (1999) Pigeon pneumonia in Provence: a bird-borne Q fever outbreak. Clin Infect Dis 29(3):617–620
Raoult D, Tissot-Dupont H, Foucault C, Gouvernet J, Fournier PE, Bernit E, Stein A, Nesri M, Harle JR, Weiller PJ (2000) Q fever 1985–1998. Clinical and epidemiologic features of 1,383 infections. Medicine 79(2):109–123
Gami AS, Antonios VS, Thompson RL, Chaliki HP, Ammash NM (2004) Q fever endocarditis in the United States. Mayo Clin Proc 79(2):253–257
Fenollar F, Fournier PE, Carrieri MP, Habib G, Messana T, Raoult D (2001) Risks factors and prevention of Q fever endocarditis. Clin Infect Dis 33(3):312–316
Fournier PE, Marrie TJ, Raoult D (1998) Diagnosis of Q fever. J Clin Microbiol 36(7):1823–1834
Payzın S (1953) Epidemiological investigations on Q fever in Turkey. Bull World Health Organ 9:553–558
Golem SB (1951) La Q flevre en Turquie: l’epidemiologie et une revue sommaire sur la flevre Q des animaux (Q feverepidemiology and information on Q fever infection among animals in Turkey). Turkish Bull Hyg Exp Biol 11(1):1–21
Payzın S (1948) Q fever epidemic in Ozancik village. Turkish Bull Hyg Exp Biol 8(3):116–124
Gözalan A, Akin L, Rolain JM, Tapar FS, Oncül O, Yoshikura H, Zeller H, Raoult D, Esen B (2004) Epidemiological evaluation of a possible outbreak in and nearby Tokat province. Mikrobiyol Bul 38(1–2):33–44
Gozalan A, Esen B, Rolain JM, Akin L, Raoult D (2005) Is Q fever an emerging infection in Turkey? East Mediterr Health J 11(3):384–391
Dupont HT, Thirion X, Raoult D (1994) Q fever serology: cutoff determination for microimmunofluorescence. Clin Diag Lab Immunol 1(2):189–196
Payzın S, Akan E (1964) Residual agglutinins against Rickettsia prowazekii, R. mooseri, R. conori, R. burnetii, and Neo-Rickettsia in human sera from central and eastern Turkey. Turkish Bull Hyg Exp Biol 24(1):44–62
Karabay O, Kocoglu E, Baysoy G, Konyalioglu S (2007) Coxiella burnetii seroprevalence in the rural part of Bolu, a city located in the western Black Sea region of Turkey. In: Proceedings of the 17th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), 25th International Congress of Chemotherapy (ICC), Munich, Germany, 31 Mar–4 Apr 2007, abstract number 1734–123
Berberoğlu U, Gözalan A, Kiliç S, Kurtoğlu D, Esen B (2004) A seroprevalence study of Coxiella burnetii in Antalya, Diyarbakir and Samsun provinces. Mikrobiyol Bul 38(4):385–391
Kılıç S, Çelebi B (2008) Coxiella burnetii. Turkish Bull Hyg Exp Biol 65(Suppl 3):1–31
Kiliç S, Yilmaz GR, Komiya T, Kurtoglu Y, Karakoc EA (2008) Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii antibodies in blood donors in Ankara, Central Anatolia, Turkey. New Microbiol 31(4):527–534
Ergönül O, Zeller H, Kiliç S, Kutlu S, Kutlu M, Cavusoglu S, Esen B, Dokuzoğuz B (2006) Zoonotic infections among veterinarians in Turkey: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and beyond. Int J Infect Dis 10(6):465–469
Seyitoğlu Ş, Özkurt Z, Dinler U, Okumuş B (2006) The seroprevalence of Coxiellosis in farmers and cattle in Erzurum District in Turkey. Turk J Vet Anim Sci 30:71–75
Eyigör M, Kırkan Ş, Gültekin B, Yaman S, Tekbıyık S, Aydın N (2006) Detection of antibodies against Coxiella burnetii in risk groups for Q fever: a study with ELISA and IFA tests. Turkish J Infect 20(1):31–36
Kılıç S, Aslantaş Ö, Çelebi B, Pınar D, Babür C (2007) Investigation of seroprevalences of Q fever, Brucellosis and Toxoplasmosis in risk groups in Hatay. Turkish Bull Hyg Exp Biol 64(1):16–21
McQuiston JH, Childs JE (2002) Q fever in humans and animals in the United States. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2(3):179–91
Tissot-Dupont H, Amadei MA, Nezri M, Raoult D (2004) Wind in November, Q fever in December. Emerg Infect Dis 10(7):1264–1269
Tissot Dupont H, Raoult D, Brouqui P, Janbon F, Peyramond D, Weiller PJ, Chicheportiche C, Nezri M, Poirier R (1992) Epidemiologic features and clinical presentation of acute Q fever in hospitalized patients: 323 French cases. Am J Med 93(4):427–434
Acknowledgment
The authors give their thanks to Levent Akin, Demet Kurtoglu, Ali Cem Tekin, and the staff of the Samsun Provincial Health Directorate.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gozalan, A., Rolain, J.M., Ertek, M. et al. Seroprevalence of Q fever in a district located in the west Black Sea region of Turkey. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 29, 465–469 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-010-0885-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-010-0885-3