Fourteen-year seroepidemiological study of zoonoses in a Greek village.
A seroepidemiological study carried out in a high-risk village in Crete in 1985-1987 and 1998 showed that although the awareness of the people concerning zoonoses had increased during this period, the situation did not improve: there was a significant increase of the spread of seroprevalence in time and space of Coxiella burnetii, Rickettsia typhi, Brucella sp., and Entamoeba histolytica. Toxoplasma gondii, Rickettsia conorii, Borrelia burgdorferi, Echinococcus granulosus, Leishmania sp., and Fasciola hepatica stayed at the same levels. This first study of Bartonella henselae in Crete showed that 15.9% of the children tested were seropositive. The results indicate that reservoirs and vectors of the pathogens studied are widespread in the environment, and the way of life of the people favors contact with them. Seven of 30 milk samples were positive for Brucella sp. by seminested polymerase chain reaction.
Laboratory of Clinical Bacteriology Parasitotlogy Zoonoses and Geographical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. antoniou@med.uoc.gr
Maria
M
Antoniou
Irene
I
Economou
Xiaoying
X
Wang
Anna
A
Psaroulaki
Ioanna
I
Spyridaki
Byron
B
Papadopoulos
Athanasia
A
Christidou
Emanuel
E
Tsafantakis
Yiannis
Y
Tselentis
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology; D012424:Rural Population; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012756:Sheep; D013987:Ticks; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial