Seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii infection in dairy cattle and non-symptomatic people for routine health screening in Korea.
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.
Kim
Woo Jin
WJ
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chunchon, Korea.
Hahn
Tae-Wook
TW
Kim
Dae-Yong
DY
Lee
Myung-Goo
MG
Jung
Ki-Suck
KS
Ogawa
Motohiko
M
Kishimoto
Toshio
T
Lee
Mi-Eun
ME
Lee
Seung-Joon
SJ
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
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial