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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1568226
This article is part of the Research Topic Emerging Zoonotic Diseases: Understanding and Mitigating Risks at Animal-Human Interfaces View all 7 articles
Molecular characterisation of Coxiella burnetii dairy cattle strains in Estonia
Provisionally accepted- 1 Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
- 2 Swedish Veterinary Agency, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
- 3 Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii), an obligate intracellular zoonotic bacterium, causes abortions, stillbirths, and birth of premature and weak offspring in animals. Sheep and goats, are considered important reservoirs of infection for humans. In Estonia, C. burnetii is detected serologically in domestic ruminants with the prevalence being significantly higher in dairy cattle herds than that in beef cattle herds and sheep flocks. Furthermore, C. burnetii DNA has previously been identified in dairy cattle. This study explored the genetic characteristics of C. burnetii strains to identify possible sources of the disease. The strains found in the Estonian dairy herds were examined using 15-locus multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Across the two herds, one complete and two partial profiles with different numbers of repeats at the studied loci were identified. A comparative analysis using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and randomly selected European profiles detected two larger phylogenetic clusters associated with cattle and small ruminant species, respectively. Additionally, it revealed a relationship of Estonian profiles to C. burnetii profiles detected in abortion material and milk from Belgian cattle. These results provide primary genetic information regarding the Coxiella strains circulating in this region and indicate C. burnetii-induced reproductive disorders in Estonian dairy cattle herds.
Keywords: Q Fever, Molecular Epidemiology, Domestic ruminants, PCR, phylogenetic analysis
Received: 06 Feb 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Neare, Tummeleht, Jinnerot, Lassen and Viltrop. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Kädi Neare, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
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