Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis due to the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii, an obligate intracellular bacterium, living in the phagolysosome of infected cells. Q fever was found in more than 50 countries on five continents. In Asia, India, saudi
Arabia,
Japan, and China had already Q fever. But in Korea, any outbreak of Q fever was not reported until recently, although some epidemiological possibilities of Q fever outbreak in Korea were present.
But recently several cases of Q fever have been reported and it showed the importance of the seroepidemiological survey to know the extent of Coxiella burnetii infection in Korea. But a recent serosurvey for residents in various geographical
areas
revealed that no one had antibody reactive with Coxiella burnetii phase I antigen.
So we conducted a serosurvey for 46 stock breeders that seem to be a high risk group of Coxiella burnetii infection, and 70 residents in a city as a control group. With use of the indirect immunofluorescence test (IFA) employing phase Ⅰ antigen
of
the
nine-mile strain of Coxiella burnetii, the titer of polyvalent immunoglobulins was determined.
All of seventy residents in a city had an antibody titer less than 1:20 against phase Ⅰantigen. In contrast, two of 46 stock breeders had an antibody titer of 1:20.
Our study indicates that to assess accurately the extent of Coxiella burnetii infection in Korea, more extensive serosurvey using phase Ⅱantigen should be undergone.
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