Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Aug;3(8):589-94; discussion 593-4.
doi: 10.1016/S2221-1691(13)60121-5.

Epidemiological, laboratory, diagnostic and public health aspects of human brucellosis in western Iran

Hamid Kassiri  1 , Hamid Amani, Massoud Lotfi
Affiliations

Epidemiological, laboratory, diagnostic and public health aspects of human brucellosis in western Iran

Hamid Kassiri et al. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2013 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To determine brucellosis's epidemiologic, laboratory, diagnostic and public health features considering brucellosis is endemic in Azna County, western Iran.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was investigated on 43 patients with brucellosis in Azna County. The subjects were the patients with symptoms correspondent with brucellosis and positive Wright and 2ME tests. A questionnaire about demographic, epidemiological and laboratory findings was filled in. Afterwards, patients were treated using usual antimicrobial drugs regimen. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16.

Results: Forty-three subjects were found to be positive in laboratory tests. Incidence of Brucellosis was 59.31 per hundred thousand population. About 34.9% of patients were female and 65.1% male. Nearly 95.2 % of human cases were living in rural and 4.8 % in urban areas. Around 20.9% of patients had history of animal contact. The commonest transmission was unpasteurized dairy products (79.1%). The most contagious seasons were summer and spring (60.3%). The most common age group was 15-24 (27.9%), and about 60.5% of the patients were between 15-44 years old. Disease was more common among housewives (30.2%) and farmers (20.9%). The majority of the patients had Wright test titre=1:320 (54.1%) and 2ME test titre=1:160 (56.1%) in serological titration. Doxycycline with Rifampin was used for treatment of the greatest of patients (60.4%).

Conclusions: In order to control this zoonotic disease, close cooperation of health and veterinary organizations is necessary.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Epidemiology; Human brucellosis; Iran; Laboratory; Public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Distribution of brucellosis cases per month in the Azna County (2008-2009).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zeinali M, Shirzadi MR, Hajrasolo H. A guide to combat Brucellosis. 1st ed. Tehran: Raz Nahan Publications; 2012. p. p.50.
    1. Azizi F, Hatami H, Janghorbani M. Epidemiology and control of common diseases in Iran. 4th ed. Tehran: Khosravi Publications; 2010. p. p.915.
    1. Mohamed NS, Stephen MB, Nammalwar S. Brucellosis: A re-emerging zoonosis. Vet Microbiol. 2010;140:392–398. - PubMed
    1. Institute of Environmental Science and Research Surveillance . New Zealand: Public Health Surveillance; Brucellosis, epidemiology in New Zealand. [Online] Available from: www.surv.esr.cri.nz. [Accessed on 3 April, 2013].
    1. Atluri VL, Xavier MN, Jong MF, Hartigh AB, Tsolis RM. Interactions of the human pathogenic Brucella species with their hosts. Ann Rev Microbiol. 2011;65:523–541. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms