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The relevance of the wild reservoir in zoonotic diseases: the relationship between Iberian wildlife and Coxiella burnetii.
  • David González-Barrio
David González-Barrio
Spanish National Centre for Microbiology, Health Institute Carlos III

Corresponding Author:dgonzalezbarrio@gmail.com

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Abstract

Throughout history, wildlife has been an important source of infectious diseases transmissible to humans. Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium, Coxiella burnetii with only anecdotal reports of human-to-human transmission. The epidemiology of human infections always reflects the circulation of C. burnetiid in animal reservoirs. Q fever occurs as sporadic cases, usually after identifiable at-risk activities (farming, slaughterhouse work, or rural tourism), however, as a rule, it is infected livestock, particularly goats and sheep, the most important sources of zoonotic Q fever outbreaks in humans. Nonetheless the origin of several human Q fever cases continues to be unclear. Human impacts on habitats, biodiversity and climate could be responsible for changes in the patterns of interaction between domestic animals, wildlife and humans, allowing wild animals to be involved in the epidemiology of Q fever and thus serving as important reservoirs to domestic animals and humans. These factors combined with the identification of shared genotypes between wildlife and humans in the Iberian Peninsula, makes it possible for wild reservoirs to play an important role in the increase in cases of Q fever in Spain