Serological and molecular prevalences and phylogenetic analysis of Coxiella burnetii in dogs in Al-Qadisiyah and Baghdad Provinces, Iraq

Vet World Vol.17 November-2024 Article - 20

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(11): 2603-2611

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.2603-2611

Hadaf Mahdi Kadhim¹, Mithal K. A. Al-Hassani¹, Ahlam Ali Soghi Al-Galebi¹, and Israa M. Essa²

1. Department of Biology, College of Education, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Diwaniyah, Iraq.
2. Department of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Basrah, Basra, Iraq.

Background and Aim: Coxiella burnetii is a highly contagious zoonotic bacterial micro-organism. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of C. burnetii in dogs using serological and molecular methods. Furthermore, a sequencing analysis of C. burnetii dog isolates was conducted.

Materials and Methods: A total of 172 dogs, including 93 pet dogs, 21 police dogs, 38 guardian dogs, and 20 stray dogs, were selected. Venous blood was drained from the dogs and examined serologically by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and molecularly by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for C. burnetii. A sequencing analysis of C. burnetii dog isolates was conducted.

Results: The overall prevalence of C. burnetii was 16.86%, accounting for 55% in stray dogs, 9.68% in pet dogs, 19.05% in police dogs, and 13.16% in guardian dogs. Strong positive sera were observed in stray dogs (4.84 ± 0.29), whereas weak sera were observed in pet dogs (3.22 ± 0.18). PCR analysis revealed 6.4% positive dogs, accounting for 1.08%, 4.76%, 2.63%, and 40% in pet, police, guardian, and stray dogs, respectively. Phylogenetic tree analysis of local C. burnetii isolates revealed a total rate of similarity and mutations/changes between 95.47% and 100% and 0.059%, respectively. Subsequently, the local isolates were significantly similar to Chinese hedgehog, Iraqi camel, and Colombian human C. burnetii National Center for Biotechnology Information-GenBank isolates.

Conclusion: This is the first study on prevalence of C. burnetii in dogs in Iraq. To prevent transmission of C. burnetii to humans, the role of dogs or other domestic and wild animals as sources of infection must be investigated extensively. In addition, the prevalence of C. burnetii in other Iraqi regions should be surveyed using the most sensitive and specific diagnostic assays, such as ELISA and PCR.

Keywords: canine zoonotic diseases, Coxiellosis, polymerase chain reaction, Q-fever, sequencing analysis.

How to cite this article: Kadhim HM, Al-Hassani MKA, Al-Galebi AAS, and Essa IM (2024) Serological and molecular prevalences and phylogenetic analysis of Coxiella burnetii in dogs in Al-Qadisiyah and Baghdad Provinces, Iraq. Veterinary World, 17(11): 2603-2611.

Received: 2024-08-22 Accepted: 2024-10-15 Published online: 2024-11-22

Corresponding author: Israa M. Essa E-mail: israa.essa@uobasrah.edu.iq

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.2603-2611

Copyright: Kadhim, 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.