[Cattle vaccination against Q fever in the rural district of Bratislava]

Cattle attendants on two farms in the Outer Bratislava district showed symptoms of Q-fever. The blood of the cows in these farms was found to contain antibodies to Coxiella burnetti and the causative agent of the disease was detected in milk samples of aborting cows by biological assays on hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). The naturally invaded dairy cows with antibodies in the blood and heifers without antibodies were vaccinated with different doses of inactivated suspension of C. burnetii in stage I. A different antibody reaction to vaccination was obtained after the application of a four-fold amount of vaccine. It was proved that the animals did not excrete the causative agent of the infection even after administration of lower doses of the vaccine on the 120th day after vaccination.