Occurrence of Coxiella burnetii in free living marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) in Brazil

Abstract

Coxiella burnetii, the etiological agent of Q fever, is a Gram-negative, pleomorphic and obrigate intracellular bacilocco, that belongs to order Legionalles and Family Coxiellaceae. The Q Fever, which is considered a zoonosis, is mainly transmitted by hematophagus arthropods (such as ticks) or by aerosols. Domestic and wild ruminants have an extremely importance in the distribution of this agent, involving economic aspects and Public Health. In this sense, the present study aimed to verify the ocurrence, by molecular methods, of C. burnetii in blood samples from free-ranging Brazilian marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) in Brazil. For this purpose, 143 blood samples will be submitted to nested PCR (nPCR) technique based in the repetitive insert element IS1111 of the heat shock protein (htpAB) gene. Thereafter, nPCR amplicons will be purified and sequenced and their identity will be validate and compared to sequences previously deposited in Genbank. (AU)