title: Detection of Coxiella burnetii DNA in wildlife and ticks in northern Queensland, Australia.
abstract: Wild animals and the tick species that feed on them form the natural transmission cycle and reservoir of Coxiella burnetii. The objective of this study was to determine whether C. burnetii was present in the blood of host animals and their ticks in northern Queensland, Australia. Three genomic targets were detected using real-time PCR assays-the Coxiella-specific outer membrane protein coding gene (Com1), the multicopy insertion element (IS1111), and the isocitrate dehydrogenase gene (Icd). Quantification of the single-copy targets identified a range of 1.48×10(1) to 4.10×10(3) C. burnetii genome equivalents per microliter in the ticks tested. The detection of Coxiella based on the presence of the genomic targets indicated the occurrence of C. burnetii in both the ticks and whole blood of a variety of native Australian marsupials and confirms these animals are capable of acting as reservoirs of Q fever in northern Queensland.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ketheesan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Govan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016997:Coxiella burnetii / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007521:Isocitrate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics; D008394:Marsupialia / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D011778:Q Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D007521:Isocitrate Dehydrogenase