Background: Brucellosis is one of the neglected tropical zoonotic diseases of public health concern in many resource limited countries including Tanzania. It is common among animals and human population who are in close proximity with livestock and their products. Despite being common in these countries among animal population, there is scarcity of information on its magnitude among high risk groups including dog keepers.
Objective: This study aimed at determining the seroprevalence of Brucella spp. antibodies and associated factors among dog keepers in Mwanza city.
Methods: A cross sectional study community based involving 205 dog keepers was conducted in Mwanza city between June and August 2018. Structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and other relevant information. Blood samples were collected from consented participants in plain vacutainer tubes and sera was extracted. Detection of Brucella spp. antibodies was done using agglutination test (Eurocell Euromedi equip LTD. UK). Data was analyzed by using STATA version 12 as per study objectives.
Results: The median age of the enrolled study participants was 26 (inter quartile range (IQR: 17-40) years. Overall, seroprevalence of Brucella antibodies was 30 (14.6%, 95% CI: 9.7-19.4). Seroprevalence of Brucella abortus was 26 (12.7%, 95% CI: 8.0-17.1) while that of Brucella melitensis was 6 (2.9%, 95% CI: 0.6-5.2). Washing hands (OR: 0.37. 95% CI: 0.1-0.99, p=0.039) was significantly associated with protection for being Brucella seropositive.
Conclusion: A considerable proportion of dog keepers in Mwanza have Brucella antibodies, washing hands protect dog keepers from being Brucella seropositive.
Wurzburg Road 35, BMC Premises, Post Code: 33102: P. O Box 1464, Mwanza – Tanzania: Phone: +255 28 298 3384: Fax: +255 28 298 3386: Email: vc@bugando.ac.tz : www.bugando.ac.tz
-- Medical Laboratory Sciences --Microbiology & Immunology