Three-toed sloth as putative reservoir of Coxiella burnetii, Cayenne, French Guiana

To the Editor: Q fever is an emerging zoonosis and a major public health concern in French Guiana, a French overseas region located on the northeastern coast of South America (1,2). Most cases occur in the city of Cayenne (3), specifically in the suburbs , where houses are near wooded hills (4). Genotyping performed by using multispacer sequence typing showed that MST17, a unique genotype of C. burnetii, circulates in Cay-enne and is responsible for epidemics of Q fever (5). C. burnetii transmission peaks during the rainy season, and the incidence of Q fever usually increases 1–3 months later (6). The animal reservoir of C. burnetii in French Guiana is unknown; previous studies have excluded domestic ruminants, which are known to be C. burnetii reservoirs elsewhere in the world (6). Four sero-logic surveys showed few C. burnetii– positive opossums, dogs, rodents (Proechimys spp.), bovines, or birds in French Guiana (7). In 2013, using real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis of vaginal swab samples, we showed that 6/158 (3.8%) dogs from Cayenne and 0/206 bats from the coastal area of French Guiana were positive for C. burnetii (Cycle threshhold [C t ]