Some Preliminary Information About the Presence of Q Fever in People of Tetova, Kercova and Dibra Regions, in the Western Macedonia

Q fever disease is an infection that affects not only the people, but the animals, as well. Q fever is caused by a pleomorphic coccobacillus Coxiella burnetii. Our study is aimed at finding the presence of Q fever infection in people of the three Western Macedonia regions (Tetova, Dibra, and Kercova). The study was carried out in the Laboratory of Virology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – Tirana, Albania, with the use of the ELISA Test, for humans, imported from the German Firm, Serion. A total of 293 serums of people (of the three regions) were tested for the accomplishment of this study, of which, 156 were from females and 137 from males. The number of samples, divided by regions, is: Dibra (males: 29 samples, females: 35 samples), Tetova (males: 73 samples, females: 82 samples) and Kercova (males: 35 samples and females: 39 samples). The assessment of positivity was based on the Cut-off values, the ones over 0.500 OD are positive. We only took out the presence of the infection, by recording the IgG, and not trying to evaluate the pathologic process. It was found that the presence of the infection is at different percentages in total, by regions: Tetova 18.7%, Debar 34.3% and Kercova 43.2%, mainly starting from the age group of 20 year olds and up. We only found one case of a 15 year old female in the Kercova Region, with the presence of IgG. The percentage of the infection varies in different age groups and genders, shown in corresponding tables and charts.Keywords: Q fever, Elisa test, serological, atypical pneumonia, zoonosis