Seroprevalence of human brucellosis in Erbil city

Abstract

Background and objectives: Brucellosis is an acute or chronic illness manifested principally by chills and fever. Occasionally, chronic relapsing febrile episodes occur. Brucellosis is endemic in animal and humans are infected incidentally. The aim of the study was to examine the incidence of brucellosis in Erbil City, study the relation between the rate of infection and a number of predisposing factors. Methods: Blood samples were collected from (2085) patients suspected of having brucellosis attending, Erbil Teaching Hospitals and Rizgary. The sera were examined using Rose Bengal test. Results: Serum samples from patients showed (10.7%) of positive reaction indicating the presence of anti-brucella antibodies. Seropositivity of brucellosis in female (12.48%) was significantly higher than male (8.02%), and in rural area was (40.98%) and in urban area was (9.44%). The highest seropositivity of brucellosis occurred among age group (21-30) years. The infection rate with B. miletensis and Brucella abortus was (71.75%) and (28.25%) respectively. The highest seropositivity occurred among individuals who were in contact with animals (37.34%), and in occupations was the highest among the farmers and dairy workers (37.5% and 37.28%) respectively. In Monthly distribution showed the highest sero-positivity occurred in October (12.72%). Conclusion: Sero-posivity of brucellosis in Erbil City is somehow similar to the neighboring countries. There are variations in the incidence of brucellosis in relation to sex, age, area, occupation, source of infection and seasons.

The seroprevalence of human brucellosis in different age groups patients and other associated risk factors in Duhok, Iraq

“…In the current study, the highest rate of brucellosis (22.7%) was observed in the age group 21-30 years. Comparable findings were reported from different studies locally and worldwide (3,(23)(24)(25) . This would be expected because the brucellosis is an occupational disease and this age group exposed longer to risk factors related to their occupation.…”

“…This finding was in agreement with other studies in the region. Although some studies showed that more males were affected than females (26,27) , other studies revealed that the infection of brucellosis is predominant among females than males (2,25,28) . It is obvious in our region that females are more likely involved in household than males.…”

Epidemiological study of human brucellosis among febrile patients in Erbil-Kurdistan region, Iraq

“…We found an association between human brucellosis and livestock contact with a statistically significant difference. This finding is in agreement with another study from Erbil [22] and indicates an important role of livestock in the epidemiology of human brucellosis in this province. Further studies to determine which species of livestock are the reservoirs for Brucella spp.…”

“…The current study showed the prevalence of probable brucellosis was 12.3% among suspected patients in Erbil-Kurdistan Iraq. A study conducted in the same hospital (Rizgari Hospital at Erbil) in 2012 reported a 10.7% prevalence which is close to the present study [22]. A slightly higher prevalence was found in another study conducted in Azadi general hospital in Duhok-Kurdistan, Iraq in 2017 with a seroprevalence rate of 17.8% [23].…”

“…We found that 58.1% of Brucella infections were caused by B. melitensis, and 41.9% were caused by B. abortus. There is an increase in the B. abortus compared with a study conducted in 2012 in Erbil where the prevalence of B. abortus and B. melitensis was (28.25%) and (71.75%) respectively [22]. It seems that B. abortus is responsible for an increasing number of cases in recent years, such as in Yemen, where B. abortus was identified in 45 cases and B. melitensis in 7 cases out of 330 cultures performed [41], and in Pakistan, 79.59% of human brucellosis was caused by both species followed by B. abortus in 16.32% of cases and B. melitensis in just [42], in Saudi Arabia, B. melitensis has been reported as the leading cause of brucellosis [43], and in Turkey, B. melitensis was detected in 98.1% of samples [44].…”