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Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii antibodies in Portuguese dairy cattle herds

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Abstract

Q fever is an important zoonotic disease which has been recently diagnosed, mainly in sheep and goats, in Portugal. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of bovine Coxiella burnetii antibodies in dairy farms from the northwest of Portugal. Bulk tank milk samples were randomly obtained, on November 2013, from 90 dairy farms and assayed using an ELISA kit. The apparent prevalence was 61.1 % (95 % C.I. from 50.8 to 70.5 %). The proportion of negative and intermediate (inconclusive) herds was 34.5 % (25.5 to 44.7 %) and 4.4 % (1.7 to 10.9 %), respectively. In conclusion, a high level of exposure to Coxiella burnetii was observed in Portuguese dairy cattle herds, highlighting the needs to better understand the epidemiology of Q fever in Portugal by the implementation of a monitoring program based on harmonized serologic and molecular methodologies and elucidation of the infection status of the herds.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Barcelos Agricultural Cooperative Society (http://www.agribar.pt/) for the data availability of bovine and herd characterization for the present work.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CECAV, Department of Veterinary Science, Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences School, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-811, Vila Real, Portugal

    Luís Pimenta, Nuno Alegria & João Simões

  2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, Health Science Campus, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Sta Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal

    Sofia Anastácio & Gabriela da Silva

  3. University School of Vasco da Gama, Rua José R. Sousa Fernandes, 197, Bloco B, 3020-210, Coimbra, Portugal

    Sofia Anastácio

  4. Sophia-Antipolis Laboratory, ANSES, Les Templiers 105 route des Chappes, BP 111, 06902, Sophia Antipolis, France

    Karim Sidi-Boumedine

  5. Barcelos Agricultural Cooperative Society, Rua Fernando de Magalhães 206, 4750-290, Barcelos, Portugal

    Ângela Rabiço

Authors
  1. Luís Pimenta
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  2. Nuno Alegria
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  3. Sofia Anastácio
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  4. Karim Sidi-Boumedine
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  5. Gabriela da Silva
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  6. Ângela Rabiço
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  7. João Simões
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Correspondence to João Simões.

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Pimenta, L., Alegria, N., Anastácio, S. et al. Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii antibodies in Portuguese dairy cattle herds. Trop Anim Health Prod 47, 227–230 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-014-0679-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-014-0679-1

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