[An outbreak of brucellosis in a village in Jiangsu province].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the cause and related risk factors of an outbreak caused by Brucellosis.

METHODS

Epidemiological investigation and laboratory test were carried out among occupationally invloved population including sheep slaughters and sellers in the village.

RESULTS

18 people were serology positive among the 129 occupationally involved persons under survey. Seven of them were confirmed cases, 11 were latent infection, to make the overall attack rate as 14%. 90% of the sheep were from high-risk areas of Brucella. Among the occupationally involved persons, 89% of them never wore face masks, 84% never wear overalls and 70% never wear gloves. Factors as:work but wearing no gloves (RR = 7.4, 95%CI:1.1-53.0), with hand wound (RR = 3.4, 95%CI:1.1-11.0) could increase the risk of Brucella infection.

CONCLUSION

The cause of this outbreak was due to the plentiful influx of unchecked sheep from the northern part of China and the employees in the process of sheep slaughtering or trading were lack of effective prevention programs.