The Prevalence of the Q-fever Agent Coxiella burnetii in Ticks Collected from an Animal Shelter in Southeast Georgia

<p>Author's abstract: Q-fever is a zoonosis caused by a worldwide-distributed bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Ticks are vectors of the Q-fever agent but play a secondary role in transmission because the agent is also transmitted via aerosols. Most Q-fever studies have focused on farm animals but not ticks collected from dogs in animal shelters. In order to detect the Q-fever agent in these ticks, a nested PCR technique targeting the 16S rDNA of Coxiella burnetii was used. A collection of 450 ticks from the animal shelter were screened via nested PCR and 144 (32%) were positives. The positive PCR products were also confirmed by DNA sequencing. This is the first report of the prevalence of the Q-fever agent in ticks from an animal shelter. The results are significant to public health. Highly infected ticks in animal shelters may transmit the Q-fever agent to humans via its feces, excretion, or by biting.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Biology

Year dc:date.available

2004

Author dc:creator

• Smoyer, John H., III

Contributors dc:contributor

• William S. Irby
• Lance A. Durden

• ETD
• Coxiella burnetii
• Q fever
• ticks
• animal shelter
• Immunology and Infectious Disease
• Immunology of Infectious Disease
• Life Sciences
• Other Animal Sciences
• Parasitology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1002

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-2035