| dc.description.abstract | A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine prevalence and the risk factors associated
with Coxiella burnetii seropositivity in smallholder dairy cattle in six regions from the southern
highland and northern zones of Tanzania between July 2019 and October 2020. A total of 2049
blood samples and 1920 vaginal swabs were collected from dairy cattle. Serum was tested for
antibodies against C. burnetii using an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
C. burnetii DNA was identified from vaginal swabs using quantitative polymerase chain
reaction (qPCR) analyses. A questionnaire survey was designed and uploaded to the Open
Data Kit (ODK) cloud platformsoftware version 1.22.4. At each household, the cattle owner
aging equal or over 18 years was interviewed to understand the risk factors related to animal
health, husbandry, and farmer socioeconomics, as well as environmental variables. C. burnetii
prevalence was calculated at different epidemiological levels and maps were created to
visualize Q fever spatial distribution. Logistic generalized linear mixed effects models were
built to explorethe association between ELISA binomial results, and a set of risk factors and
environmental variables important for C. burnetii occurrence. An overall animal
seroprevalence of 3.86% (79, 2049) 95% CI 3.06 - 4.78 was estimated across the study regions.
Among these regions, Tanga (northern zone) and Iringa (southern zone) showed the highest
prevalence with 8.21% (95% CI 6.0 - 10.89%) and 4.63% (95% CI: 2.49 - 7.78%) respectively.
On the other hand, molecular identification of C. burnetii from vaginal swabs of selected cows
revealed an overall prevalence of 0.94% (18,1920) (95% CI 0.5-1.4%). Among the northern
zone regions, Arusha had the highest of 2.3%(95%CI 0.9-4.7%) and on the southern highlands
zone, Iringa emanated to have the highest prevalence of 0.73% (95%CI 0.08-2.5%). Animal
age, extensive feeding system, and temperature were univariably significant risk factors to C.
burnetii seropositivity. The final multivariable logistic regression model showed that old
animal age, extensive feeding system, and low precipitation were strongly associated with Q
fever seropositivity. These findings indicate that C. burnetii circulates among smallholder dairy
cattle across regions in Tanzania. However, Tanga, Arusha and Iringa are the three regions with
the highest seroprevalence and should be considered for systematic and active surveillance.
Furthermore, “One Health” approaches are necessary to fully understand disease transmission
and control of this zoonotic disease. | en_US |
