High seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii in dairy cattle in China.

Coxiella burnetii is the agent of Q fever, a zoonosis which occurs worldwide. As there is little reliable data on the organism in China, we investigated C. burnetii infections in dairy cattle herds around the country. Opportunistic whole blood samples were collected from 1140 dairy cattle in 19 herds, and antibodies to phase I and II C. burnetii antigens were detected using commercial ELISA kits. Seropositive cattle (381/1140, 33 %) were detected in 13 of the 15 surveyed provinces and in 16 of the 19 herds (84 %) studied. Our data indicates C. burnetii is widespread in China and that animal and human health workers should be aware of the possibility of Q fever infection in their patients.