Screening of Household Family Members of Brucellosis Cases and Neighboring Community Members in Azerbaijan

Abstract

Abstract. Brucellosis is an endemic zoonotic disease in Azerbaijan. The first human brucellosis case reported in 1922 was in Pardabil village of a region currently named Shabran. Household members of brucellosis index cases are a population at risk for brucellosis infection. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of seropositivity of brucellosis among household and neighboring community members of brucellosis index cases in Azerbaijan. Twentyone household members of 8 index brucellosis cases and 27 community neighbors were serologically tested for evidence of exposure by the serum agglutination test. Of these, the brucellosis seropositivity rate was 9.5% and 7.4%, respectively. Screening of household members of index cases and individuals who live in proximity to infected household members is a practical approach to increase the detection of brucellosis exposure.Brucellosis is also known as Bang's disease, Malta fever, Mediterranean fever, or undulant fever, and is the most common zoonotic infection worldwide.1 This bacterial disease affects a variety of animals and is transmitted to humans by three main routes: direct contact with tissue and body fluids from infected animals, inhalation of infectious aerosols, and ingestion of contaminated food such as unpasteurized dairy products. Four species of Brucella can infect humans, Brucella melitensis the most severe pathogen followed by Brucella suis, Brucella abortus, and Brucella canis.

Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Brucellosis in the Country of Georgia

“…In the South Caucasus region, males are more involved in the care and management of farm and domestic animals, and are more likely to be shepherds; this may explain the high disparity in brucellosis prevalence compared to females. A similar finding was also noted in Azerbaijan, a neighboring country [18]. Brucellosis can infect persons of any age, but in endemic areas most cases occur in young adults.…”

Brucella infection in children: Evaluation of 148 pediatric patients

“…Due to the common living area and the common food consumption, the risk of Brucella is increased in family members of index case family members. In previous studies, with the scanning of family members, the seropositivity rate was reported as 9.5% -36.8% and it was suggested that family members should be examined for Brucella [16,17]. In our study, brucella history rate of patients' family members was found to be 39.2%.…”

Outbreak of Occupational Brucellosis at a Pharmaceutical Factory in Southeast China

“…However, how to strictly implement the standard health quarantine is still a challenge for each cities including Quzhou. So far in practice the most common diagnostic method is still serology, as the gold standard diagnostic method (Ismayilova et al., ), i.e. Brucella culture, is time‐consuming and low positive rate (Špičić et al., ).…”