Abstract
(1) Background: Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii that have cases reported in humans and animals almost everywhere. The aim of this study was to describe the seasonality of Coxiella burnetii in the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the tick Hyalomma lusitanicum in a meso-Mediterranean ecosystem. (2) Methods: two populations of wild rabbits that differ in whether or not they share habitat with ungulates, mainly red deer (Cervus elaphus) were sampled for a year to collect ticks, blood and vaginal or anal swabs. Presence of C. burnetii DNA in swabs and the tick H. lusitanicum was determined by PCR and serum antibodies by ELISA. (3) Results: C. burnetii DNA was detected in 47.2% of 583 rabbits, in 65.5% of sera, and in more than half of the H. lusitanicum. There were small variations according to sex and age of the rabbits but significant according to the habitat (4) Conclusions: The results indicate that C. burnetii circulates freely between wild rabbits and H. lusitanicum and the sylvatic cycle in meso-Mediterranean environments relies in the presence of wild rabbits and H. lusitanicum above all if sharing habitat with red deer.
Highlights
Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis first described in Australia [1] caused by Coxiella burnetii (Derrick, 1939; Philip 1948)
Similar sex distribution was observed in both populations the percentage of adults was higher in the rabbits area (R-A) (74.1%) than in rabbits and ungulates area (RU-A) population (55.2%)
The most abundant tick species found in our work were of the genus Rhipicephalus, we focused on H. lusitanicum because of its known role in the transmission of C. burnetii and the high presence of this bacterium in this tick species [20,22]
Summary
Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis first described in Australia [1] caused by Coxiella burnetii (Derrick, 1939; Philip 1948). Except in New Zealand, the infection has been widespread throughout the world, where we find endemic or epidemic areas [2]. It is a notable disease in the United States and the European Union, where it has increased the number of cases reported [3,4]. The infection is an important cause of abortion in sheep flocks and it could bring about reproductive losses in red deer in Spain [7,8]. Little is known about the infection in wildlife [11], in spite of the significant role as reservoir of some wild species, such as rabbits, red deer and small mammals [12,13,14,15]
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