Brief communication

Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii antibodies in Danish dairy herds

Jens F Agger¹ , Anna-Bodil Christoffersen² , Erik Rattenborg³ , Jørgen Nielsen³ and Jørgen S Agerholm¹

¹  Department of Large Animal Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Groennegaardsvej 8, Frederiksberg, DK-1870 C, Denmark

²  National Veterinary Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Bülowsvej 27, Copenhagen, DK-1790 V, Denmark

³  Danish Cattle Federation, Udkjaersvej 15, Aarhus, DK-8200 N, Denmark

author email corresponding author email

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2010, 52:5doi:10.1186/1751-0147-52-5

Published:	21 January 2010

Abstract

During recent years in Denmark higher rates of antibodies to Coxiella burnetii have been detected in animals and humans than previously reported. A study based on bulk tank milk samples from 100 randomly selected dairy herds was performed to estimate the prevalence and geographical distribution of antibody positive dairy herds. Using the CHEKIT Q-Fever Antibody ELISA Test Kit (IDEXX), the study demonstrated a prevalence of 59% antibody positive herds, 11% antibody intermediate herds and 30% antibody negative herds based on the instructions provided by the manufacturer. The geographical distribution does not indicate a relationship between the regional density of dairy farms and the prevalence of antibody positive dairy farms. The result supports the hypothesis of an increase in the prevalence of positive dairy herds compared to previous years.