Study of C. burnetii human and animal seroprevalence in a rural population in Madrid community
A pilot study on human seroprevalence of antibodies to C. burnetii in the Madrid region, initiated in a small rural population, shows a 15.4% positivity by the indirect immunofluorescence test. An urban sample shows an 8.8% positivity. Animal seroprevalence in livestock located in the village under study is 76.6% in caprine and 17.7% in bovine. A high risk epidemiological situation is detected.
Seroepidemiological survey of Q fever in León Province, Spain
A seroepidemiological survey, using an indirect immunofluorescence test against Coxiella burnetii (antigenic phase II), was carried out in León province, north-western Spain. A total of 406 serum samples was collected from people (from 15 to more than 65 years old) living in a rural environment during the winter and spring of 1994. The overall prevalence was 40.6%, titres ranged from 1:80 to 1:640, and a titre of 1:80 was encountered among 60.6% of positive samples. A significant higher prevalence was observed among males globally, as well as among those aged 15–44 and 45–64 years old; however, no difference was encountered among males and females older than 64 years. In the same way, a significant higher Q fever prevalence was observed among individuals having occupations related to agriculture and among those having close relationship with animals.
The first ground cricket (Orthoptera: Trigonidiidae: Nemobiinae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber
Abstract A new genus and species, Birmaninemobius hirsutus gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of a well-preserved orthopteran specimen in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber and attributed to the subfamily Nemobiinae (ground crickets) of the family Trigonidiidae (Grylloidea). As the first record of Nemobiinae from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, this new taxon not only provides novel morphological diversity in ground crickets but also indicates that the ground crickets lived in Burma (Tethyan islands) as early as the mid-Cretaceous.