Seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis and its incidence in human in Thi-Qar province

Abstract

Brucellosis is a contagious bacterial disease that causes public health problems and financial losses in animal productions. This study aims to describe the incidence of human brucellosis, seroprevalence of brucellosis in cattle, and risk factors of disease spreading. The total incidence cases of human brucellosis in Thi-Qar province are estimated at 5.4% per 100,000 people for eight years, and the highest number of 43 patients are observed in 2019. The number of the positive samples using the Rose Bengal test (RBT) are 32 (21.8%) from a total of 147 blood samples assembled randomly from cattle populations. The seroprevalence of brucellosis is estimated as 3.4% (95%Cl:1.1-7.8) through employing the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The questionnaire interview with the animal owners revealed that the large proportion neither handle aborted animals properly nor dispose of the waste materials of abortions. Besides, the majority of the owners prefer lending bulls for mating or breeding purposes rather than artificial insemination. The study concludes that brucellosis is an endemic disease in Thi-Qar Province and that it is important to abide by the One Health Approach for the management of disease control in animal population and minimize human incidence rates.