Brucellosis is not a major cause of febrile illness in patients at public health care facilities in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the presence of brucellosis among patients with acute febrile illness at health care facilities in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam.

METHOD: A retrospective seroepidemiological study on serum samples collected at 13 not adjacent health care facilities using the Rose Bengal test as a rapid screening test and the Brucella IgM/IgG flow assay as a simple confirmatory test.

RESULT: The seroprevalence in the Rose Bengal test among 406 patients presented with acute undifferentiated fever was 14.8%. Seven of the 64 Rose Bengal test positive samples reacted weakly (1+) positive in the Brucella IgM/IgG flow assay. No seroconversion was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Brucellosis is not a major cause of morbidity in Binh Thuan province.