Herd–prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (Q fever) antibodies in dairy cattle farms based on bulk tank milk analysis

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.