Seroprevalence And Risk Factors Of Coxiella Burnetii Infecting Cattle Raised In Pastoral Areas Of Narok, Kenya.

Background: There are many prevalence and risk factor studies of infectious diseases such Q fever done in Sub-Saharan Africa but in Kenya, there are limited studies on Coxiellosis. The disease affects animal productivity and the ability to support livelihoods. The under-diagnosis of the disease has proven a challenge for effective control and eradication, since the epidemiology of the disease is still not clearly understood both in the animal and human health systems due to limited availability of technical and financial capacity to allow for significant epidemiological studies. The aim of this study was to determine the sero-prevalence and risk factors of C. burnetii in cattle in the Mara region, Narok County of Kenya. This study will provide relevant data for veterinarians and healthcare professionals that can be used for designing strategies for managing Q fever. Ultimately, this will aid in demonstrating that Q fever should not be neglected and should be included while controlling other zoonotic infections using the One Health approach. Results: : A total of 589 sera samples were collected from 390 herds in 5 different villages from 3 zones selected based on the livestock-wildlife interactions and land use patterns in Mara Ecosystem in 2019. The seroprevalence C. burnetii was 1.9%. Significant risk factor on univariate analysis at animal level was bull ownership {OR=4.8 (CI 0.4-16.2) P-value 0.016}, while at at the herd level the significant factors were: animals grazing in shared areas between villages {OR 2.3CI 1.0-5.0) P-value 0.046}, mixing of cattle in different herds {OR 0.4 CI 0.2-0.9 P-value 0.029}, bought livestock previous year {OR 10.1 CI 1.3-75.8 P-value 0.025}, bull ownership P-value 0.003, history of abortion in the herd { OR 0.3 CI 0.1-10.9 P-value 0.018} and communal grazing had a borderline significance of (OR=2.2 P-Value). At the multivariable analysis bull ownership was the only significant variable {OR 5.2 CI 1.5-18.4) P-value 0.010). Conclusion: The study confirmed the previous exposure of the cattle in Mara ecosystem to the Coxiella burnetii indicating the potential risk to human transmission and qualifying the need to have better veterinary and public health interventions.