Epidemiology of Q-fever in goats in Hubei province of China.

Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) is an intracellular bacterium, which causes zoonotic disease called Q-fever. However, scarce information is known about the epidemiology of Q-fever in goats in Hubei province of China. A total of 1157 blood samples were collected from the study area and these were tested for antibodies against C. burnetii by employing a commercial competitive ELISA. The results showed that the overall positive rate of C. burnetii was 4.75% (95% CI: 3.6, 6.1) and in different counties it ranged from 1.05 to 11.84% in goats. Antibodies positive against C. burnetii were detected in 24 (4.68%; 95% CI: 3.0, 6.9) out of 513 male goats and 31 (4.81; 95% CI: 3.3, 6.8) out of 644 female goats. In different seasons, the seroprevalence of C. burnetii infection in goats was 6.81% (95% CI: 3.9, 10.8) in spring, 5.46% (95% CI: 3.4, 8.3) in summer, 4.73% (95% CI: 2.1, 9.1) in autumn, and 2.84% (95% CI: 1.4, 5.0) in winter. The present survey reveals that C. burnetii is prevalent in goats in Hubei province. Considering the numerous economic losses and potential risk to public health due to Q-fever, it is important that control measures should be adopted to prevent the transmission of this intracellular bacterium in animals and humans in Hubei province.