Brucellosis in people with occupational risk in veterinary clinics in two cities in south central Chile

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Brucella spp in people with occupational risk in veterinary clinics in two cities in south central Chile (Talca and Puerto Montt). Human sera (n=98) were analyzed using the Wright-Huddleson agglutination technique (sensitivity 54.9%, specificity 100%) and the exact Fischer test or X2 was used to evaluate significant differences between groups (p<0.05). A 3% seropositivity to Brucella spp was found (1.8% [1/53] for Talca and 4.4% [2/45] for Puerto Montt). According to the functions performed within veterinary clinics, seropositivity was 1.4% (1/71) for veterinary medicine students and 10% (2/19) in veterinary doctors, without significant differences between groups.