Serodiagnosis for brucellosis in camels by rose Bengal and C-ELISA test in Iraq

Abstract

Brucellosis is an occupational disease for veterinarians, farmers, and meatpacking workers. It causes heavy economic losses in livestock in developing countries and has an important public health issue for dairy product consumers. Little information is known about the camel brucellosis and its effect on human health. A study of the seroprevalence of camel brucellosis had been conducted in Al-Najaf province during the period from February 2018 to March 2019. One hundred seventy-two camels were involved in this study with ages between 3 to 9 years. The serum samples were screened by using the Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT) with positive samples tested again with the competitive ELISA test (cELISA). Our results show that out of 172 camel sera collected, 6 (6.97%) were positive for Brucella antibodies by Rose Bengal plate test of which 4 (4.6%) was confirmed by cELISA. Furthermore, on age distribution, for RBPT, the positive results were 4 camels (4.6%) and 2 camels (3.1%) for older and younger animals respectively, while in cELISA, 3 (3.4%) older camels were positive with only 1 (1.1%) younger camels. The result was statically significant (P<0.05). The study concluded that Brucella antibodies are present in camel and they were probably infected due to contact with infected animals, and the cELISA test is a good test for confirmation of the RBPT.