EN
The article presents the outbreak of Q fever in a cattle herd and humans in the South-Eastern Poland at the turn of 2009-2010. The main aim of the study was to evaluate different diagnostic methods in the diagnosis of the disease. One hundred and twenty blood samples from cattle and six blood samples from humans, who had contact with infected animals were collected twice: after the diagnosis of the infection in the herd; and 21 d later. Blood and serum samples were examined using complement fixation test (CFT), indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), PCR, and real-time PCR. The percentage of positive CFT results amounted to 21.6% in cattle. Coxiella burnetii antibodies were detected in all samples from humans, and the results were confirmed by IFA. Real-time PCR showed the prevalence of DNA specific sequences for Coxiella burnetii in the first examination. The second examination gave negative results. PCR and real-time PCR of DNA extracted from ticks showed that the percentage of infected arthropods amounted to 25% and 33.3%, respectively.