Serological Evidence of Rickettsia, Orientia, and Coxiella in Domestic Animals from Bhutan: Preliminary Findings

Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases
Tshokey TshokeyStephen R Graves

Abstract

There is no information on rickettsial diseases in domestic animals in Bhutan. This study provides preliminary serological data on exposure of domestic animals to Rickettsia, Orientia, and Coxiella. Animal sera were collected opportunistically from Bhutan and tested in the Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory for IgG antibodies against spotted fever group (SFG) and typhus group (TG) Rickettsia, scrub typhus group (STG), and Q fever (QF). Of the 294 animals tested, 136 (46%) showed serological evidence of past exposure to one or more rickettsiae: 106 (36%), 62 (21%), 45 (15%), and 11 (4%) being positive against SFG Rickettsia, Orientia, TG Rickettsia, and Coxiella, respectively. Dogs appeared to exhibit the highest seropositivity against SFG (55%) and TG Rickettsia (45%), horses against STG (91%), while goats were mostly positive for Coxiella (9%). Dogs also appeared to have high risk of being exposed to SFG Rickettsia (odd ratios [OR] 5.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.02-10.80, p < 0.001), TG Rickettsia (OR 48.74, 95% CI 11.29-210.32, p < 0.001), and STG (OR 6.80, 95% CI 3.32-13.95, p < 0.001), but not against QF (OR 1.95, 95% CI 0.42-8.95, p = 0.390). Differences in seropositivity rates between animal species may hav...Continue Reading

References

Dec 23, 2008·Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases·Vilas M VaidyaS B Barbuddhe
Oct 12, 2010·Journal of Clinical Microbiology·Leonard IzzardJohn Stenos
Dec 6, 2012·Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases·Hamidreza Honarmand
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Aug 13, 2013·Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases·Devathri M NanayakkaraSenanayaka A M Kularatne
Sep 26, 2013·Future Microbiology·Sanjeev K SahniDavid H Walker
Jul 18, 2015·Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases·Ming-Yang YinXing-Quan Zhu
Nov 28, 2017·PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases·Tshokey TshokeyStephen R Graves

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Citations

Feb 20, 2021·BMC Infectious Diseases·Meghnath DhimalKhem B Karki

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
light microscopy

Software Mentioned

Excel
STATA

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