title: Seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii infection in dairy cattle and non-symptomatic people for routine health screening in Korea.
abstract: We report results on the seroprevalence of antibodies to Coxiella burnetii in cattle and healthy people in Korea. Upon agreement with dairy owners, serum samples from 414 dairy cattle were collected between March and June 2001 and samples from 205 people for health screening were collected between April and December 2002. The sera were analyzed for the presence of anti-C. burnetii phase II antibodies using an indirect microimmunofluorescence test; strong fluorescence at a 1:32 dilution was regarded as positive. The overall seroprevalence of C. burnetii in cattle in Korea was 25.6%, with regional variation from 8.9 to 59.3%. Of the positive serum samples, 75.5% had antibody titers >or=1:256. By contrast, only 1.5% of people in a rural area were seropositive, and most of the positive samples had low antibody titers. In conclusion, this study showed that relatively high seropositivity of C. burnetii in dairy cattle, accordingly, the studies on the high-risk groups are needed to evaluate the seroprevalence for this organism in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chunchon, Korea.
authors.forename: Woo Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Tae-Wook
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Dae-Yong
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myung-Goo
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ki-Suck
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Motohiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kishimoto
authors.forename: Mi-Eun
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seung-Joon
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011778:Q Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000662:veterinary; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial