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Page No. : 45-48

ABSTRACT

Coxiella burnetii is an abortion-causing zoonotic pathogen in both animals and humans and affects the economy of the farming community. All over very meager attempts are being made for isolation of the pathogen; considering this the venture was targeted from the abortion cases in goats. In the present investigation, a total of 90 samples (blood and vaginal swabs) from the 30 goats with prolonged history of abortions reared at three different farms in Dhule district of Maharashtra were screened initially for the presence of Coxiella burnetii using PCR targeting the Com1 and IS1111 genes. Only four animals turned positive for both the genes. Three samples (vaginal swabs) from positive animals were further processed for isolation of pathogen by yolk sac route of inoculation into SPF eggs. Followed by the incubation; harvest of the two yolk sacs revealed positivity for both genes. The subsequent phylogenetic analysis of the partial sequence of IS1111 revealed both sequences are in homology and formed the same clade with most of the sequences in India, while the 2 sequences MF422071.1 (UP), MK078517.1 (Nagpur, Maharashtra) were found to be forming different clades. Within Maharashtra, there is a difference in circulating Coxiella burnetii. A total of 7 animals were positive for ELISA accounting for 23.33% seroprevalence. It can be concluded that there are at least 2 variants of Coxiella burnetii within India.

Keywords: Coxiella burnetii, isolation, Maharashtra