A recent outbreak of Q fever was linked to an intensive goat and sheep dairy farm in Victoria, Australia, 2012-2014. Seventeen employees and one family member were confirmed with Q fever over a 28-month period, including two culture-positive cases. The outbreak investigation and management involved a One Health approach with representation from human, animal, environmental and public health. Se...

Here, we report draft genome sequences of historical strains of Coxiella burnetii derived from cow's milk and the placenta of a goat that had aborted. The California and Ohio milk strains display a different sequence type than do contemporary milk strains.

The subversion of microbicidal functions of macrophages by intracellular pathogens is critical for their survival and pathogenicity. The replication of Coxiella burnetii, the agent of Q fever, in acidic phagolysosomes of nonphagocytic cells has been considered as a paradigm of intracellular life of bacteria. We show in this study that C. burnetii survival in THP-1 monocytes was not related to p...

For a survey of Coxiella burnetii, the Q fever agent, ticks infesting companion dogs were collected in Aomori, Tochigi, Gifu and Okinawa Prefectures, Japan. A total of 261 ticks were collected, and their species were identified morphologically. Five tick species were identified: Ixodes ovatus, Haemaphysalis concinna, H. flava, H. longicornis and Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Total DNA was extracted...

Symptomatic and asymptomatic Coxiella burnetii infection during pregnancy have been associated with obstetric complications. We described placental histopathology and clinical outcome of five cases with asymptomatic C. burnetii infection during pregnancy and compared these cases with four symptomatic cases from the literature. In contrast with the symptomatic cases, we did not observe necrosis ...

Coxiella burnetii is a strict intracellular bacterium with potential as a bioterrorism agent. To characterize different isolates of C. burnetii at the molecular level, we performed multispacer sequence typing (MST). MST is based on intergenic region sequencing. These regions are potentially variable since they are subject to lower selection pressure than the adjacent genes. We screened 68 space...

Successful macrophage colonization by Coxiella burnetii, the cause of human Q fever, requires pathogen-directed biogenesis of a large, growth-permissive parasitophorous vacuole (PV) with phagolysosomal characteristics. The vesicular trafficking pathways co-opted by C. burnetii for PV development are poorly defined; however, it is predicted that effector proteins delivered to the cytosol by a de...

Variations in lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial outer membrane component, determine virulence of the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. We find that while avirulent C. burnetii LPS (avLPS) stimulates host p38α-MAPK signaling required for proper trafficking of bacteria containing compartments to lysosomes for destruction, pathogenic...

The immunogenicity of the soluble phase I antigen of Coxiella burnetii for guinea pigs was enhanced by a nuclease-resistant complex of polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid, poly-L-lysine, and carboxymethyl cellulose.

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular pathogen known to be the causative agent of Q fever, a zoonosis with a worldwide occurrence. The most common reservoirs for infection in humans are domestic farm animals such as cattle, goats, and sheep. Although C. burnetii can cause abortion and still birth, most animals have a persistent, relatively asymptomatic subclinical infection. Infection ...