A study on the reservoir status of Q-fever in avifauna, wild mammals and poikilotherms in Uttar Pradesh (India).

Fifteen species of free-living birds (pigeon, mynah, house-sparrow, crow, vulture, owl, swallow, parrot, heron, duck, guinea fowl, hawk, kite, dove and peacock), 11 species of small/large wild mammals (rat, bandicoot, house mouse, shrew, bat, mongoose, ant eater, Jackal wild cat, chinkara and tiger) and 5 species of poikilotherms (snakes, python, tortoise, monitor and eel) were screened for evidence of Q-fever infection by the capillary agglutination test on sera to detect antibodies and/or by attempts to demonstrate Coxiella burnetii in samples of visceral organs. Sero-reactors were observed among mynah (19/69), owlet (1/6), pigeon (1/11), swallow (6/200), parrot (13/56), rat (3/21), shrew (1/24), bat (2/14) and snake (7/23). Eleven strains of the organism comprising 3 from mynah, 2 from rats, and 1 each from parrot, crow, swallow, bandicoot, chinkara and python were isolated. This appears to be the first record of natural Q-fever infection in free-living birds in India. C. burnetii was also recovered in 1 of 12 water samples processed from ponds. Possibility of contamination of ponds with C. burnetii from infected water-fauna has been discussed.