TY - JOUR AU - Jesse, Faez Firdaus Abdullah AU - Paul, Bura Thlama AU - Hashi, Hamza Abdirahman AU - Chung, Eric Lim Teik AU - Abdurrahim, Nur Athirah AU - Lila, Mohd Azmi Mohd PY - 2020/12/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Seroprevalence and risk factors of Q fever in small ruminant flocks in selected States of Peninsular Malaysia JF - The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine JA - TJVM VL - 50 IS - 4 SE - Original Articles DO - UR - https://he01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/tjvm/article/view/246319 SP - 511-517 AB - <p><span class="fontstyle0">Q fever is caused by </span><span class="fontstyle2">Coxiella burnetii</span><span class="fontstyle0">, an obligate intracellular parasite which causes abortion and reproductive<br>disorders in domestic animals and febrile illness in man. Earlier studies have detected </span><span class="fontstyle2">C. burnetii, </span><span class="fontstyle0">including serum<br>antibodies in humans, cattle, sheep and goats in Malaysia. However, the overall seroprevalence status and contributing<br>factors of Q fever among small ruminants in Malaysia are still unexplained. This study was therefore conducted to<br>investigate the seroprevalence and risk factors of Q fever among small ruminant flocks in Negeri Sembilan and<br>Terengganu states. To determine the seroprevalence of Q fever among small ruminants, we collected blood samples<br>from a total 272 sheep and goats across six smallholder farms in two states and tested all sera using commercial<br>Sandwich-ELISA kit with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 99.6% for the direct detection of specific antibody<br>against </span><span class="fontstyle2">Coxiella burnetii</span><span class="fontstyle0">. Our results revealed 12.1% (8.77-16.55) apparent prevalence and 11.8% (8.40-16.21) true<br>prevalence of Q fever among individual sheep and goats in the two states. Univariable analysis revealed that states (</span><span class="fontstyle2">X</span><span class="fontstyle0">2<br></span><span class="fontstyle0">=10.264: </span><span class="fontstyle2">p</span><span class="fontstyle0">=0.001), farms (</span><span class="fontstyle2">X</span><span class="fontstyle0">2 </span><span class="fontstyle0">=27.32: </span><span class="fontstyle2">p</span><span class="fontstyle0">=0.000), gender (</span><span class="fontstyle2">X</span><span class="fontstyle0">2 </span><span class="fontstyle0">=3.908: </span><span class="fontstyle2">p</span><span class="fontstyle0">=0.048), age (</span><span class="fontstyle2">X</span><span class="fontstyle0">2 </span><span class="fontstyle0">=12.845: </span><span class="fontstyle2">p</span><span class="fontstyle0">=0.000), breed (</span><span class="fontstyle2">X</span><span class="fontstyle0">2 </span><span class="fontstyle0">=13.435:<br></span><span class="fontstyle2">p</span><span class="fontstyle0">=0.004) and production (</span><span class="fontstyle2">X</span><span class="fontstyle0">2 </span><span class="fontstyle0">=8.992: </span><span class="fontstyle2">p</span><span class="fontstyle0">=0.003) of small ruminants were associated with their Q fever seropositive status.<br>Multivariable logistic regression further revealed 3.972, 12.455 and 11.921 times more likelihood of Q fever in the young,<br>the Barbados Black Belly sheep breed and the meat production animals. In conclusion, the seroprevalence Q-fever in<br>Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan states is associated with the age, breed and the production purpose of small<br>ruminants.</span> </p> ER -