Abstract
Background and Aim: Q fever is a worldwide disease that is common between human and livestock. This disease is created by an obligate interacellular rickettsia called Coxiella burnetii. Cattle, sheep and goats are the main carriers of the disease. This study was conducted to identify the amount of Coxiella burnetii prevalence in the sheep and goat''s blood in Alashtar, Iran.
Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study (from January 2016 to June 2016),162 sheep and goat blood samples were collected at random from the villages around the city of Alashtar. These samples were tested for the presence of Coxiella burnetii by the ELISA method.
Results and Conclusions: In this study, 162 samples were tested, that from total 42 samples of goat blood, 15 samples (9.3%) and a total of 120 sheep blood samples, 45 samples (27.8%) were positive for the presence of Coxiella burnetii. The analysis of the collected data in different seasons and areas revealed that, more than 59.3 percent of the samples were negative and about 37 percent were positive, as well as the remaining 3.7 percent were suspicious in terms of Coxiella burnetii presence. The results of this study showed pollution in the upper area is the sheep and goat populations with regard to zoonotic disease that results of this study should be of interest to health policy.
Keywords: Q fever, Coxiella burnetii, ELISA, sheep, goat, Lorestan