Seroepidemiological study of Q fever in Lorestan province, western Iran, 2014

Q fever is a zoonotic disease and farm animals serve as the main reservoir of the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of Q fever in sheep, in Lorestan province in western Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, 330 blood samples were collected from sheep, from each county in Lorestan province. The samples were tested by ELISA for the presence of immunoglobulin (IgG) against Coxiella burnetii.

Among the samples tested, 45 samples (13.64%) were seropositive. Of 35 studied herds, 21 (60%) had a history of infection. In terms of number of positive samples, there was no significant difference between the three geographical regions (central, west and east) (p=0.687). There was no statistically significant difference between age groups (p =0.604). Gender also had no effect on infection rates, in female and male sheep (p =0.814). No significant difference was observed between the number of lactation and positive serology (p =0.376). The rate of infection with Q fever and abortion also had no statistically significant difference (p =0.152).

The findings of this study showed that sheep in Lorestan were infected by Q fever and the cycle of disease transmission had been established between animals and ticks.