COXIELLA BURNETII IN SMALL RUMINANTS: ASSESSING THE PUBLIC HEALTHRISK

摘要

Coxiella burnetii causes Q fever, a zoonosis that can have serious consequences. Most human cases are associated with small ruminant parturition, as was the case in the large Netherlands outbreak of 2007-2010. However, a quantitative assessment of thepublic health risk attributable to C. burnetii infection in small ruminants has not previously been performed. This study aimed to do so for Switzerland, using a model developed in Palisade @RISK Version 5.7. Goat flocks were shown to represent a greater risk of C. burnetii shedding than sheep flocks, and the number of C. burnetii released by an infected sheep or goat flock was estimated to be in the order of 1012 organisms. The risk to individuals was highest for farmers and declined over a distance of five kilometres from a shedding farm. The model was most sensitive to the C. burnetii concentration in small ruminant placental tissue. Other influential inputs were the within-flock shedding prevalence, flock infection prevalence, and flock size.