Seroprevalence of Human Brucellosis in Livestock Rearing Community of Central Gujarat, India.

BACKGROUND

Brucellosis, a zoonotic disease, is responsible for multitude of health issues and economic burden in community and is widely studied in high-risk population. The prevalence of disease or exposure to the organism causing brucellosis in a specific community has not been studied widely.

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to measure community-based seroprevalence of human brucellosis in livestock-rearing villages in three districts of central Gujarat.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We collected a total of 2561 blood samples of individuals from households of 93 villages. Multistage random sampling techniques were used for sample collection during the study period of 2021-2023. Serum samples were tested for immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM by the Novatech enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay Brucella kit.

RESULTS

District-wise seropositivity ranged from 18.35% to 26.81%, and overall, 579 (22.60%) samples were found to be positive for IgG, IgM, or both antibodies to Brucella spp .

CONCLUSION

The seroprevalence of human brucellosis is high in the community of livestock-rearing villages and requires to be studied in more detail.