High within-herd prevalence and assessment of production impacts of Coxiella burnetii in postpartum cattle from a Scottish dairy herd.

Authors

Griffin M Weller, Ciara McKay, Maria Carvalho, Davide Pagnossin, Ryan W Carter, Paul C D Johnson, Richard Vazquez Belandria, Lorenzo Viora, Kathryn J Allan, Jo E B Halliday

Published in

Preventive veterinary medicine. Volume 256. Pages 106991. Aug 20, 2026. Epub Aug 20, 2026.

Abstract

Coxiella burnetii is endemic in Great Britain dairy herds but detailed investigations of C. burnetii epidemiology and impacts on livestock production in this region are scarce. The objectives of this cross-sectional study were to first determine the within-herd prevalence of C. burnetii on a commercial Scottish dairy farm with prior detection of C. burnetii and second assess the relationship between pathogen load and individual health and performance traits. Vaginal swabs were collected from cows up to seven days postpartum. DNA extracts were tested for C. burnetii by IS1111 qPCR assay. Generalized linear models were used to estimate the relationships between bacterial load and health and performance traits. A total of 313 swabs were collected between 15 December 2022 and 06 July 2023, of which 301 (96.1%) had detectable C. burnetii DNA with Ct ≤ 40. The Ct values observed (12.9-38.7) corresponded to estimated genome equivalents per reaction of < 1 to ∼2.5 million genomes. Higher bacterial loads were seen in primiparous compared to multiparous cows. Higher bacterial loads were also more likely in cows that had experienced one or more negative reproductive outcomes, including abortion, premature delivery, prolonged gestation, stillbirth and dystocia. The direction of causation underlying the observed associations and representativeness of findings from this single herd require further investigation. This study provides insights into the within-herd dynamics of C. burnetii and evidence generated through sampling and diagnostic testing approaches that can inform future work to characterize the epidemiology and impacts of this infection in Great Britain dairy cattle and globally.

PMID:
42691526
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Sep 2026.

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