Background: Q fever is a widespread zoonotic disease that is caused by obligate intracellular bacteria, Coxiella burnetii. Raw milk or dairy products that are produced from unpasteurized milk may contain virulent Coxiella burnetii. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence rate of C. burnetii in raw and unpasteurized cow bulk tank milk samples of traditional domestic dairy products vendors in Khorramabad, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this cross - sectional study a total of 120 raw and unpasteurized cow bulk tank milk samples in traditional domestic dairy products vendors were collected from October 2015 to November 2015 and tested for C. burnetii used a nested PCR assay.
Results: In this survey, 9 out of 120 (7.5%) raw and unpasteurized cow bulk tank milk samples were found PCR positive for C. burnetii.
Conclusion: The Results of this study indicate that raw and unpasteurized cow bulk tank milk samples in traditional domestic dairy products vendors are an important source of C. burnetii infection in Khorramabad.