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Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) reservoir in wild brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) populations in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

J. P. Webster ,
G. Lloyd  and
D. W. Macdonald
J. P. Webster
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS
G. Lloyd
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Division of Pathology, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 0JG
D. W. Macdonald
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS
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Extract

Seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii, the causal agent of Q fever in humans, was examined in wild brown rat populations from 4 Oxfordshire farmsteads (n = 127), 9 Somerset homesteads (n = 98), and 1 captive enclosure (n = 88) in the UK. Seroprevalence ranged between 7 and 53%, the lowest being within the captive population and the highest on dairy farmsteads with sheep present. This is the first reported investigation of C. burnetii in wild rats outside India. We suggest that the high Seroprevalence among rats (i) provides evidence that wild rats constitute an important reservoir for C. burnetii in the UK, and (ii) explains why cats, as frequent predators of rats, are so important in the epidemiology of this disease.

Keywords

Q feverCoxiella burnetiiwild ratscatsaerosol transmission
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 110 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 31 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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