Term of Award
Summer 2004
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Department
Department of Biology
Committee Chair
Quentin Q. Fang
Committee Member 1
William S. Irby
Committee Member 2
Lance A. Durden
Abstract
Author's abstract: Q-fever is a zoonosis caused by a worldwide-distributed bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Ticks are vectors of the Q-fever agent but play a secondary role in transmission because the agent is also transmitted via aerosols. Most Q-fever studies have focused on farm animals but not ticks collected from dogs in animal shelters. In order to detect the Q-fever agent in these ticks, a nested PCR technique targeting the 16S rDNA of Coxiella burnetii was used. A collection of 450 ticks from the animal shelter were screened via nested PCR and 144 (32%) were positives. The positive PCR products were also confirmed by DNA sequencing. This is the first report of the prevalence of the Q-fever agent in ticks from an animal shelter. The results are significant to public health. Highly infected ticks in animal shelters may transmit the Q-fever agent to humans via its feces, excretion, or by biting.
Recommended Citation
Smoyer, John H. III, "The Prevalence of the Q-fever Agent Coxiella burnetii in Ticks Collected from an Animal Shelter in Southeast Georgia" (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1002.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1002
Included in
Immunology of Infectious Disease Commons, Other Animal Sciences Commons, Parasitology Commons