Impact of zoonosis Q-fever on reproduction of dairy cattle and solutions for the disease control and sustainable use of animals Project leader Vita Antāne Team of project Vita Antāne Kaspars Kovaļenko Guna Ringa-Ošleja Marta Brūniņa Linda Valkovska Duration 2018 - 2021 Research focus 4. Development and adaptation of technologies for obtaining high-value agricultural and forest products, as well as in veterinary medicine Source of funding National research programs Project partners The Institute of Food SafetyAnimal Health and Environment “BIOR” Project manager Dr.biol. Lelde Grantiņa - Ieviņa Description of project The aim of research The goal of the investigation is to estimate the impact of Q-fever on the reproduction of dairy cattle in various regions of Latvia and to implement solutions for the disease control and sustainable use of animals, as well as to reduce the human infection risks. The tasks of project: Following tasks have been determined to reach the goal: To estimate Q-fever prevalence in dairy cattle farms covering at least 10 % of dairy cow sheds in various regions of Latvia analysing samples of milk, blood and aborted foetusesBlood samples will be used to differentiate the infection status of Q-fever causing bacteria Coxiella burnetii – active vsChronic (serological response to phase II (PhII) or phase I (PhI) antigen, respectively)Positive animals will be retested every six to nine monthsTo characterize more deeply bacteria presented in positive samples of milk and aborted fetuses by molecular methods in order to determine genotypes of Cburnetii circulating in the territory of LatviaTo evaluate the infection pattern according to the obtained resultsTo evaluate biosafety conditions and other risk factors in the farms involved in the investigation using questionnaires or visiting the farms on siteIn order to assess the possible dairy cattle infections from small ruminants, goat and sheep farms in proximity of cattle farms will be analyzed as wellTo encourage people from the risk groups (farmers from the farms involved in the investigation, veterinarians, workers from the abattoirs) to participate in the investigation in order to determine the infection rate among themTo organize at least three seminars for the stakeholders – owners of the dairy cattle farms, veterinarians, private laboratories, and decision makers (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Service, Ministry of Health, Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, officially approved animal breeding organizations)To distribute the obtained information, knowledge and recommendations in the form of scientific publications and participation in international scientific conferences, popular science publications and guidelines for decision makers Results 1) Guna Ringa-Ošleja defended PhD thesis (28.03.2024.) "Prevalence of Q Fever in Dairy Herds in Latvia and its Influence of reproductive Parameters". Scientific supervisors: Dr.med.vet. Vita Antane and Dr.biol. lelde Grantiņa - Ieviņa. 2) The results of this study are included in the final work of veterinary medicine studies L. Valkovska - “Occurrence of Coxiella burnetii DNA in milk and dairy products in Latvia” and Marta Brūniņa - Buile “Coxiella burnetii in dairy herd: farming practice and dynamics of infection”. 3) Scientific publications (SCOPUS, WoSCC and/or ERIH +) - 4, 4)International scientific conferences to participate in or organize - 14, 5) The most important result of the project is guidelines.
