SEROLOGICAL EXAMINATION ON ZOONOSES IN VE TERINARIANS .1. BASIC DATA AND PREVALENCE OF ANTIBODIES AGAINST BACTERIOLOGICAL ZOONOSES

With regard to their professional occupation veterinarians can be cons idered as group which is particularly exposed to zoonoses. So far ther e exist only few studies discussing the correlations between exposure of veterinarians to zoonoses and the risk of being infected. The aim o f the present study was to estimate the prevalence of bacteriological, parasitological and virological zoonoses in veterinarians and to defi ne possibilities of precautions based on the etiological conclusions. In addition, this study gives an overview on the occurrence of differe nt infectious diseases and parasitoses in domestic animal population. Blood samples from 137 of 266 Styrian veterinarians were taken and a q uestionnaire for anamnestic data was completed. The investigations inc luded the following zoonoses: Lyme Disease, Brucellosis, Cat Scratch D isease, Leptospirosis, Query Fever, Ornithosis, Tularemia, Ascaridosis , Babesiosis, Echinococcosis, Fascioliasis, Taenia infection, Toxocari asis, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis, Borna Disease, BVD/MD, Encephalomyoc arditis, Equine Rhinovirus and Hantavirus infection, Swine Influenza a nd Crowding Disease. The first paper of this study is focused on the q uestionnaire and the serological data regarding bacteriological zoonos es. Antibodies were detected against the following antigens: Rochalima ea henselae (51 %), Chlamydia psittaci (21 %), Coxiella burnetii (9 %) , Borrelia burgdorferi (7 %) and Leptospira spp. (3 %). No specific an tibodies were detected against Brucella abortus, B. melitensis, B. sui s and Francisella tularensis. The second paper will report on parasito logical zoonoses. The third paper will emphasize on virological zoonos es, and gives an overall interpretation as well as a list of proposed precautions.