Detection of Coxiella burnetii DNA and anti-Coxiella burnetii IgG antibodies in precolostral blood samples of stillborn calves in an endemically infected Holstein dairy herd.

Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii), an intracellular zoonotic bacterium causing Q fever, occurs widely in cattle herds. After invasion of the pregnant uterus and initial localization in the placenta, active C.