TY - JOUR

T1 - Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii in women exposed to livestock animals, Denmark, 1996 to 2002

AU - Nielsen, Stine Yde

AU - Molbak, K

AU - Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo

AU - Brink Henriksen, T

AU - Kantsø, B

AU - Krogfelt, K A

AU - Hjøllund, Niels Henrik Ingvar

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Q fever is a zoonotic infection which can pose a danger to pregnant women. To our knowledge, Denmark has never experienced a clinically verified Q fever outbreak. We aimed to quantify risk of infection in pregnant women occupationally and environmentally exposed to Coxiella burnetii. The Danish National Birth Cohort collected blood samples from 100,418 pregnant women in the period 1996 to 2002. We sampled 195 women with occupational exposure to livestock (veterinarians and female farmers), 202 women with domestic exposure (dairy cattle and/or sheep) and a random sample of 459 unexposed women. Samples were screened for antibodies against C. burnetii by commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Positive samples were confirmed by immunofluorescence (cut-off titre ≥1:128). The proportion of seropositive women was higher in the occupationally exposed (47.2% seropositive; relative risk (RR): 9.8; 95% confidence interval (CI): 6.4–15.2) and the domestically exposed population (32.2% seropositive; RR: 6.7; 95% CI: 4.3–10.6) than in unexposed women (4.8% seropositive). We found a high prevalence of antibodies to C. burnetii among pregnant women with occupational or domestic exposure to cattle and/or sheep compared with unexposed pregnant women. Our findings suggest that contact to livestock is a risk factor for C. burnetii infection in Denmark.

AB - Q fever is a zoonotic infection which can pose a danger to pregnant women. To our knowledge, Denmark has never experienced a clinically verified Q fever outbreak. We aimed to quantify risk of infection in pregnant women occupationally and environmentally exposed to Coxiella burnetii. The Danish National Birth Cohort collected blood samples from 100,418 pregnant women in the period 1996 to 2002. We sampled 195 women with occupational exposure to livestock (veterinarians and female farmers), 202 women with domestic exposure (dairy cattle and/or sheep) and a random sample of 459 unexposed women. Samples were screened for antibodies against C. burnetii by commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Positive samples were confirmed by immunofluorescence (cut-off titre ≥1:128). The proportion of seropositive women was higher in the occupationally exposed (47.2% seropositive; relative risk (RR): 9.8; 95% confidence interval (CI): 6.4–15.2) and the domestically exposed population (32.2% seropositive; RR: 6.7; 95% CI: 4.3–10.6) than in unexposed women (4.8% seropositive). We found a high prevalence of antibodies to C. burnetii among pregnant women with occupational or domestic exposure to cattle and/or sheep compared with unexposed pregnant women. Our findings suggest that contact to livestock is a risk factor for C. burnetii infection in Denmark.

KW - Adult

KW - Animals

KW - Antibodies, Bacterial

KW - Case-Control Studies

KW - Cattle

KW - Coxiella burnetii

KW - Denmark

KW - Disease Outbreaks

KW - Environmental Exposure

KW - Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

KW - Female

KW - Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect

KW - Humans

KW - Livestock

KW - Occupational Exposure

KW - Pregnancy

KW - Prevalence

KW - Q Fever

KW - Risk Factors

KW - Sheep

KW - Young Adult

KW - Zoonoses

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 23870098

VL - 18

JO - Eurosurveillance

JF - Eurosurveillance

SN - 1025-496X

IS - 28

M1 - 20528

ER -