Prevalence and factors associated with human brucellosis in livestock professionals

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to estimate the seroprevalence of human brucellosisin livestock professionals and analyze the factors associated with brucellosis focusing onsociodemographic variables and the variables of knowledge and practices related to thecharacteristics of the activities carried out in livestock.METHODS: This is a cross-sectional seroepidemiological study with a population of 131 workersof butchers, slaughter rooms, and slaughterhouse and 192 breeders sampled randomly in Namibeprovince, Angola. The data were obtained from the collection of blood and use of questionnaires.The laboratory tests used were rose bengal and slow agglutination. The questionnaire allowedus to collect sociodemographic information and, specifically on brucellosis, it incorporatedquestions about knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of livestock professionals. In addition tothe descriptive statistical approach, we used the Chi-square test of independence, Fisher’s test,and logistic regression models, using a significance level of 10%.RESULTS: The general weighted prevalence of brucellosis was 15.6% (95%CI 13.61–17.50),being it 5.3% in workers and 16.7% (95%CI 11.39–21.93) in breeders. The statistical significancewas observed between human seroprevalence and category (worker and breeder) (p < 0.001)and education level (p = 0.032), start of activity (p = 0079), and service location (p = 0.055). In amultivariate context, the positive factor associated with brucellosis in professionals was theprofessional category (OR = 3.54; 95%CI 1.57–8.30, related to breeders in relation to workers).CONCLUSIONS: Human brucellosis in livestock professionals is prevalent in Namibe province(15.6%), where the professional category was the most important factor. The seroprevalencelevels detected are high when compared with those found in similar studies