Excretion of Coxiella burnetii in Cows with Secretion Disorder

Abstract

Coxiella burnetii is the causative agent of a very important disease with zoonotic potential. Domestic ruminants are very important factor in transmission of this pathogen to humans. This pathogen can be found in feces, urine, lochia, placenta and milk of infected animals. Of all these routes, the excretion through milk lasts the longest, and can last over several lactations. In this paper, we examined the excretion dynamics of Coxiella burnetii through milk of seropositive cows and the levels of immunoglobulin G in milk and blood serum. Correlation between these parameters is also examined. Milk samples from infected cows were used for somatic cell count determination. The PCR method was used for determination of Coxiella burnetii genome. RID plates were used for determination of concentration of immunoglobulin. The excretion of the pathogen through milk differed between different stages of lactation: it was the lowest in the first stage (16.6%) and the highest in the second stage (80.0%). In the second stage the lowest concentration of immunoglobulin G was detected in milk serum (4.0 g). Somatic cell count was increased, some samples had very high values.