A Note on the Association Between Climatological Conditions and the Presence of Coxiella burnetii in the Milk-Tank of Dairy Sheep and Goat Farms in Greece

The specific objectives of the current paper were the assessment of potential associations of weather conditions with the presence of <i>Coxiella burnetii</i> in the milk-tank of sheep and goat farms and the investigation for possible interactions between weather conditions and management practices on these farms. The presence of <i>C. burnetii</i> in milk-tank samples collected from 325 sheep flocks and 119 goat herds was assessed by means of a commercially available real-time PCR. Climatic variables present at the location of each farm were downloaded from 'The POWER Project'. Univariable and multivariable analyses were carried out. Among the climatic variables assessed, only the average wind speed during the 15 days that preceded each visit was found to be a significant predictor for both sheep (<i>p</i> = 0.003) and goat (<i>p</i> = 0.034) farms. The current findings serve to provide information about the epidemiology of <i>C. burnetii</i> infections in small ruminant farms and the possibilities for contamination of the milk produced in these farms, which is important due to the zoonotic nature of the pathogen; these findings thus provide guidance to implement appropriate preventive measures.