Q fever: A neglected disease of camels in Giza and Cairo Provinces, Egypt.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by . Cattle, sheep, and goat are the main reservoir of . In Egypt, the epidemiological data about in camels are limited. Therefore, the current study was conducted to identify infection in camels by different molecular tools and to estimate its seropositivity through the detection of anti-C. burnetii antibodies in camel sera.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Blood samples were collected 112 from camels in Giza and Cairo Provinces, Egypt. All blood samples were screened by trans-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (trans-qPCR) for and positive samples subjected to standard PCR using the superoxide dismutase enzyme coding gene of . Sera of studied camels were examined for the presence of antibodies against using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS

Out of 112 camels, 19 were positive for by qPCR with an overall prevalence of 16.9% (18.6% in Giza and 15.1% in Cairo Provinces, respectively). The seroprevalence of anti- IgG antibodies in the examined camels was 4.5% (5/112).

CONCLUSIONS

Trans-qPCR assay is a rapid and sensitive tool for the detection of in acute stage. Camels should be considered one of the major reservoirs for in Egypt.