Human–livestock contacts and their relationship to transmission of zoonotic pathogens, a systematic review of literature

Klous, Gijs; Huss, Anke; Heederik, Dick J.J.; Coutinho, Roel A.

In the Netherlands, antibodies against C. burnetii were found in 73.5% of blood samples from farmers keeping dairy goats [54] . In an Italian study, animal workers were checked for blood markers against C. burnetii, Leptospira spp. and Brucella spp. Only for C. burnetii a higher sero-prevalence of 73.4% was found in animal workers, compared with 13.6% in controls [55] . For the evaluation of Hepatitis E virus, these links were not as clear as for Q-fever: serological epidemiology in a farmer cohort in the United Kingdom showed high Hepatitis E virus seropositivity, but pig contact was not found to represent a risk factor [56] . In another study from Germany, however, increased Hepatitis E virus positivity in people with contact with pigs was shown, compared to age-and gender-matched controls [52] .