Poster by Delia Grace, Pamela Ochungo and Eline Boelee presented at the international Q fever symposium, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 7 June 2012.

1. Q Fever in Africa and Asia
a systematic literature review and mapping of disease
Delia Grace1, Pamela Ochungo1 and Eline Boelee2
1- International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
2 – Water Health, Hollandsche Rading, the Netherlands
Introduction: Q-fever Materials and methods
• Emerging disease caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii • Systematic review
• Widespread in cattle, sheep and goats, companion animals • Search of PubMed, CABDIRECT, AJOL and Google
and wildlife • Screening abstracts: last 10 years, Africa or Asia, geographical
• Causes abortion in sheep and goats resulting in economic datal, information on sampling
losses • Prevalence based on serology
• Highly contagious to people: • Distinguish between ‘community surveys’ of general population
o Affects ~ 3.5 million people each year and surveys of high risk populations
o Kills ~ 3,000 people annually • Map using ArcGIS v10 against base map of farming systems
Results - Regional prevalence Results - Prevalence in livestock and people
• 83 surveys covering 27,470 animals and 11,311 people • Prevalence in community studies:
• Prevalence in community studies: bovines 26% cats and dogs 13%
North Africa 20% of people and animals sheep 16% goats 12%
West Africa 29% East Africa 12% other animals (camels, donkeys, pigs and poultry) 29%
South Africa 18% people in these communities 18%
South Asia 20% South East Asia 1% • Febrile patients in hospitals: 8% (range 0-40%) had evidence
of current infection
Results - Associations Conclusions
• High correlation between prevalence in livestock and people in • Q fever has been linked before with drier regions, small
the same country: 0.8 ruminant keeping systems and Muslim countries: our
• Negative correlation between poultry/per person and review suggested Q fever was more widely distributed
prevalence: – 0.46 • Q fever is common in people and animals in poor countries
• Moderate positive correlation between cattle/per person (0.14) • Little is known about the distribution, risk factors or impacts
and small ruminant per person (0.20) and prevalence.
• Research needs include:
• No association with religion/culture: 18% prevalence in Muslim
o Prevalence studies in more countries
countries and 17% for non-Muslim
o Assess economic impacts of Q fever in livestock
AGRICULTURE FOR NUTRITION AND HEALTH o Investigate possible under-diagnosis of Q fever
New research program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), led by
the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), aims at improving nutrition and health of poor o Better understanding of risk factors and drivers
people, especially women and young children. It will do this by exploiting and enhancing the synergies
between agriculture, nutrition and health, through four research components: o Identify factors leading to outbreaks in human
• Improving nutrition along value chains populations
• Improving availability, access and intake of bio-fortified staple foods
• Addressing food safety issues along value chains and managing agriculture associated diseases
• Integrating agriculture, nutrition and health sectors
Funding for this research was provided by
the Department for International Development, UK
ILRI
I N T E R N AT I O N A L L I V E S TO C K R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E