Publication of the results of seroepidemiological studies on Q fever in the north west of Iran

Taking that Q fever is of paramount importance in public health and since there is a few epidemiologic data regarding its status in most part of Iran such as the North West, where livestock are kept, this study was conducted to evaluate the seroepidemiological status of Q fever amongst sheep in the north west of Iran.

In this study, 256 serum samples of sheep in different geographic regions (north, centre, and south) of Ardebil province were gathered. The collected serums were tested for antibody against Coxiella burnetii (IgG) using ELISA. 33.6 percent of all tested sheep were positive for the antibody against Coxiella burnetii. Regarding infection with Q fever, there was a significant difference in different regions (P<0.001) and the infection was most frequently seen in the southern districts (58.6%) while the lowest infection rate was seen in the central regions (23.3). Although this was the first study on Q fever in the north west of Iran, the high prevalence of this infection in this part of the country would indirectly imply the importance of more attention of the health system to this disease.

The results of this study have been published in the journal of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases with an impact factor of 2.27.

Click here to check the original article.