title: Herd-prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (Q fever) antibodies in dairy cattle farms based on bulk tank milk analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) antibody positive randomly selected dairy herds in southeast Iran (Kerman).
  
  
  METHODS
  Bulk tank milk samples were collected randomly from 44 sufficiently large commercial dairy herds, included near 12 000 dairy cattle, in Kerman (The largest province of Iran), southeast Iran. The samples were tested for antibodies against C. burnetii using the commercial CHEKIT® Q fever antibody ELISA Test Kit (Idexx, Liebefeld-Bern, Switzerland).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of positive, negative and intermediate herds were 45.4%, 43.2% and 11.4%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The result supports the hypothesis of high prevalence and endemic pattern of Q fever in Iran. This investigation highlights the importance of further studies on Q fever in Iran.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. mdkhalili1@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khalili
authors.forename: Ehsanollah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sakhaee
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Aflatoonian
authors.forename: Naser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shahabi-Nejad
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008892:Milk / Q000276:immunology*; D011778:Q Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial