Vet World Vol.17 April-2024 Article - 13
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(4): 842-847
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.842-847
Serological investigation of Coxiella burnetii infection (Query fever) in livestock in Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia
1 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box: 80203, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
2 Environmental Protection and Sustainability Research Group, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
3 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Umm Alqura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
4 Department of Microbiology, Jeddah Islamic Port Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
5 Department of Parasitology, Jeddah Islamic Port Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
6 Faculty of Education, Department of Biology, Albaydha University, Al-Baydha, Yemen.
Background and Aim: Query fever (Q fever) is an endemic zoonotic disease and ruminants are considered to be the primary source of infection in humans. It is caused by Coxiella burnetii which is an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen with a worldwide distribution. This study estimated the prevalence of Q fever in livestock with a history of abortion in Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: Sera from 341 camels, 326 sheep, and 121 goats of either sex from various locations (Makkah, Jeddah, AL-Taif, AL-Qunfudah, AL-Laith, and AL-Kamil) were examined using a Q fever indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: Among the 788 serum samples, 356 animals had anti-Coxiella burnetii immunoglobulin G antibodies with an overall seroprevalence of 45.4%. Significant differences were observed in seroprevalence between species and locations. Camels had the highest percentage of Q fever-positive sera, with a prevalence of 50.4%, followed by goats (44.6%) and sheep (36.8%), with a high significant difference between animals (p = 0.000). The prevalence was significantly higher in Makkah (65.4%) than in Jeddah (28.8%).
Conclusion: C. burnetii infection is prevalent in agricultural animals, especially camels maintained at livestock farms in Makkah province. Therefore, these animals considered as the main source of Q fever infections in Saudi Arabia, which is also a reason for the abortion in these animals. Therefore, there is an urgent need for further studies on Q fever infection with interventional approaches for prevention and control.
Keywords: Coxiella burnetii, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, livestock, Saudi Arabia, serology.
How to cite this article: Alkenani NA, Baroom HM, Almohimeed AA, Hassan SO, Mohammed MS, Alshehri LA, Alshehri SA, Abu Sulayman SM, Al-maaqar SM, and Alshaeri MA (2024) Serological investigation of Coxiella burnetii infection (Query fever) in livestock in Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia, Veterinary World, 17(4): 842-847.
Received: 2023-12-24 Accepted: 2023-03-26 Published online: 2024-04-19
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.842-847
Copyright: Alkenani, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
