First Molecular Detection of Coxiella burnetii in Beef Cattle in West Java, Indonesia.

Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) is a bacterial agent causing Q fever which is widespread all over the world. Livestock such as cattle, goat, and sheep are the main sources of infection for this disease. Infection of C. burnetii causes abortion of livestock, resulting in economic damage. Q fever is zoonotic disease and potential public health hazard. To date, little is known about the infection of C. burnetii in livestock in Indonesia. The objective of this research is to screen the genome of C. burnetii bacteria in beef cattle in West Java, Indonesia. Organ tissue samples were collected from cattle slaughtered in slaughterhouses, West Java. C. burnetii genome was detected from cattle samples in all three samplings area by nested PCR (nPCR) targeting com1 gene of C. burnetii. Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA gene revealed the amplicons showed 99.9% nucleotide identity to C. burnetii strains Heizberg, 1843, 2574, 701CbB1, and 14160-001. Our results indicate that the infection of C. burnetii occurs in Indonesian beef cattles and highlight the risk of exposure to C. burnetii infection in human.