Molecular prevalence of Coxiella burnetii in cheese samples: Systematic review and meta‐analysis

Background Cheese is a popular dairy product consumed worldwide, and it has been implicated as a source of Coxiella burnetii infections. Objectives The present study aimed to describe the molecular prevalence and source analysis of C. burnetii in cheese samples. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted using the Medline/PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases to identify studies reporting the molecular prevalence of C. burnetii in cheese samples. The pooled prevalence of C. burnetii in cheese samples was estimated using a random‐effects model. Results A meta‐analysis was conducted using the mean and standard deviation values obtained from 13 original studies. The overall molecular prevalence of C. burnetii in cheese was estimated to be 25.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 13.1%–39.7%). The I2 value of 96.3% (CI95% 94.9–97.3) suggested high heterogeneity, with a τ2 of 0.642 (CI95% −0.141 to 0.881), and an χ2 statistic of 323.77 (p