Role of Goats in the Epidemiology of Coxiella burnetii

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This review article aims to compile the information published in the scientific literature regarding Coxiella burnetii infection in goats and their role in the epidemiology of infection, namely their association with the occurrence of Q fever in humans. Q fever presents a worldwide occurrence and the risk that it represents to humans has been recognized since its first description. The characteristics of C. burnetii justify its classification as a category B biological threat agent. International public health authorities strongly recommend global monitoring of C. burnetii, especially after large-scale Q fever epidemics occurred in The Netherlands, which originated from goat infection. An approach with the characterization of the bacterium, its strategies of infection, and clinical patterns in goats will help to understand the dynamics of infection in an epidemiological analysis and to analyze the role of goats in Q fever. ABSTRACT: Since its first description in the late 1930s, Q fever has raised many questions. Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent, is a zoonotic pathogen affecting a wide range of hosts. This airborne organism leads to an obligate, intracellular lifecycle, during which it multiplies in the mononuclear cells of the immune system and in the trophoblasts of the placenta in pregnant females. Although some issues about C. burnetii and its pathogenesis in animals remain unclear, over the years, some experimental studies on Q fever have been conducted in goats given their excretion pattern. Goats play an important role in the epidemiology and economics of C. burnetii infections, also being the focus of several epidemiological studies. Additionally, variants of the agent implicated in human long-term disease have been found circulating in goats. The purpose of this review is to summarize the latest research on C. burnetii infection and the role played by goats in the transmission of the infection to humans.