The relevance of the wild reservoir in zoonotic diseases: the
relationship between Iberian wildlife and Coxiella burnetii.
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