Updated Prevalence of Coxiella Brunetti in Central and Eastern European Dairy Herds-Mini Review

Perspective

Austin J Infect Dis. 2024; 11(1): 1095.

Updated Prevalence of Coxiella Brunetti in Central and Eastern European Dairy Herds-Mini Review

Attila Dobos1,2*

¹Department of Veterinary Forensics and Economics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hungary

²Ceva-Phylaxia Veterinary Biologicals Co. Ltd., Hungary

*Corresponding author: Attila Dobos Department of Veterinary Forensics and Economics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Istvan u. 2, Budapest H-1078, Hungary. Email: attila.dobos@ceva.com

Received: December 26, 2023 Accepted: January 19, 2024 Published: January 26, 2024

Abstract

Positive correlation was found between herd size and percentage of C. burnetii positive results (with PCR and/or ELISA tests) from bulk tank milk in Central and Eastern European dairy herds.

Our previous study was to assess the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii in dairy herds in Central and Eastern European countries based on ELISA and PCR tests. A total of 370 bulk tank milk samples were collected in 2019 originating from Croatia (n=13), Czech Republic (n=138), Hungary (n=126), Serbia (n=24), Slovakia (n=53) and Slovenia (n=16) [1].

We extended our research to collect more bulk tank milk samples from these countries. Samples were collected between January 2020 and August 2023 from 126 dairy herds from four Central and Eastern European countries (Hungary, n=87; Czech Republic, n=24; Slovakia, n=10 and Croatia n=5). Samples were also taken randomly from dairy herds of different sizes that were not vaccinated against Q fever, these were herds not investigated previously. No further samples were collected from Serbia and Slovenia.

Forty ml samples were taken from the bulk milk tanks. Lactosera were tested with commercial ELISA kits (ID Screen® Q Fever Indirect Multi-species, IDVet Inc., Grabels, France; IDEXX Q Fever Ab Test, IDEXX Europe B.V., Hoofddorp, the Netherlands) according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Real-time PCR assay specific for the IS1111 element was used to detect the presence of C. burnetii in the milk samples.

123 out of the 126 (97.91%) bulk tank milk samples showed positivity tested with ELISA and/or PCR, and the IS1111 element of C. burnetii was detected in 74 out of the 126 samples (58.73.%) by real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

C. burnetii specific ELISA revealed 100.00% positivity in all examined countries, the same as in our previously published studies in herds that consisted of at least 250 milking cows [1,4], but PCR positivity (58.73%) was higher compared with our last results (44.05%).Only PCR positivity was not found without ELISA positivity in any of the samples. In the present study, detection of C. burnetii specific antibodies showed higher positivity than the PCR assays in all countries, ranging between 91.60-100.00% (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia). Previous publications reported lower ELISA positivity of bulk tank milk samples from Europe, ranging between 25-37.9% (Greece, Ireland, Portugal) and 45.5-78.6% (Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain) [1]. The average herd size is the highest in the examined region among the European countries, with average number of animals/herds being 217 in Slovakia, 138 in the Czech Republic and 76 in Hungary thus the potential risk for spreading the disease are also highest than other European countries [3].

Citation: Dobos A. Updated Prevalence of Coxiella Burnetii in Central and Eastern European Dairy Herds-Mini Review. Austin J Infect Dis. 2024; 11(1): 1095.