New insights on the epidemiology of Coxiella burnetii in pet dogs and cats from New South Wales, Australia.
Animal Feed
Animals
Cat Diseases
/ epidemiology
Cats
Coxiella burnetii
Disease Outbreaks
Dog Diseases
/ epidemiology
Dogs
Female
Food Microbiology
Humans
Incidence
Macropodidae
/ microbiology
Meat
/ microbiology
New South Wales
/ epidemiology
Prevalence
Q Fever
/ epidemiology
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Zoonoses
/ epidemiology
Australia
Cat
Coxiella burnetii
Coxiellosis
Dog
Flea
Q fever
Remote
Tick
Journal
Acta tropica
ISSN: 1873-6254
Titre abrégé: Acta Trop
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 0370374
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
May 2020
May 2020
Historique:
received:
20
12
2019
revised:
03
02
2020
accepted:
20
02
2020
pubmed:
28
2
2020
medline:
17
9
2020
entrez:
28
2
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Q fever is considered one of the most important zoonoses in Australia. Whilst ruminants are the primary reservoirs for Coxiella burnetii, and the major source of human infection, human cases have also been reported following contact with pet dogs and cats. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of seropositivity to, and bacterial shedding of, C. burnetii by pet dogs and cats in a region with a high human Q fever incidence and explore risk factors for C. burnetii exposure. Samples (serum, whole blood, reproductive tissue, reproductive swabs) and questionnaires (completed by the pet's owner) were collected from dogs and cats from eight communities across remote New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Overall 86/330 dogs (26.1%, 95% CI 21.3-30.8%) and 19/145 cats (13.1%, 95% CI 7.6-18.6%) were seropositive to C. burnetii. Seroprevalence varied significantly between communities and was highest in communities within 150 km of a 2015 human Q fever outbreak. Feeding raw kangaroo was identified as a risk factor for seropositivity (adjusted OR 3.37, 95% CI 1.21-9.43). Coxiella burnetii DNA was not detected from any dog or cat whole blood, reproductive tissue or vaginal/preputial swab using qPCR targeting the IS1111 and com1 genes. Our findings suggest that companion animals are frequently exposed to C. burnetii in western NSW. Geographical variation in C. burnetii seroprevalence amongst companion animals - which corresponds with a human Q fever outbreak - suggests a shared environmental source of infection is likely with important consequences for public and animal health. The lack of detection of C. burnetii DNA from healthy companion animals suggests that pet dogs and cats are not an important reservoir for human Q fever infection outside a narrow periparturient window.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32105667
pii: S0001-706X(19)31788-7
doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105416
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
105416Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no competing interests.