Al- Anbar Medical Journal

Modes of Transmission of Brucellosis in Anbar Governorate, Iraq

Document Type : Original articles

Authors

1 Department of Medicine, Anah General Hospital, Anbar Health Directorate, Anbar, Iraq.

2 Department of Pediatrics, Al-Ramadi Maternity and Children Teaching Hospital, Anbar Health Directorate, Anbar, Iraq.

3 Department of Nursing, Higher Institute of Health, Anbar, Iraq.

Abstract

Background: Brucellosis is a common and endemic disease in the Anbar governorate. Besides,  the Brucella microorganism has different ways of transmission.
Objective: The study aimed to determine the ways of transmission of Brucella organisms to human beings in the Al-Anbar governorate.
Materials and methods: A retrospective study was carried out on patients visiting the two main Ramadi Teaching Hospitals in Ramadi city, Iraq for the diagnosis and treatment of Brucellosis. Patients with blood-culture-positive brucellae were enrolled in the study. The study included the period between February 2002 and March 2005. Data were collected and recorded regarding age, gender, and residence. The possible ways of acquiring the disease were recorded too. These included ingestion of possibly contaminated foods, butchering of animals, meat cutting, keeping animals in homes or nearby their livings, cleaning animal places, caring for, milking of them, aiding in their delivery and if they wear gloves, blowing in the mouth of delivered fetuses, their work, and possible laboratory worker exposure.
Results: A total of 312 patients with brucellosis were enrolled in the study. The disease appears to be more common in rural areas (P-value<0.001). More cases were females in all age groups, and it was more common in the age group 31-40. The main mode of transmission is direct or indirect contact with infected domestic animals (P-value<0.001). Lab workers and ingestion of raw milk and unsafe milk products were the least recorded expected risk for infection. Three risky behaviors for acquiring brucellosis were also recognized in this study: milking animals, aiding domestic animals in delivery, and blowing in the mouth of delivered fetuses to promote breathing of the newly delivered animals.  
Conclusion: Direct or indirect animal contact was the main way of Brucella transmission in the Al-Anbar governorate.

Keywords

References
[1]      K. Skalsky, D. Yahav, J. Bishara, S. Pitlik, L. Leibovici, and M. Paul, “Treatment of human brucellosis: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials,” Bmj, vol. 336, no. 7646, pp. 701–704, 2008.
[2]      Z. Yumuk and D. O’Callaghan, “Brucellosis in Turkey—an overview,” Int. J. Infect. Dis., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. e228–e235, 2012.
[3]      G. Pappas, P. Papadimitriou, N. Akritidis, L. Christou, and E. V Tsianos, “The new global map of human brucellosis,” Lancet Infect. Dis., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 91–99, 2006.
[4]      M. J. Corbel, “Review of clinical and laboratory features of human brucellosis,” Indian J. Med. Microbiol., vol. 25, no. 3, p. 188, 2007.
[5]      K. Román et al., “A foodborne outbreak of brucellosis at a police station cafeteria, Lima, Peru,” Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., vol. 88, no. 3, pp. 552–558, 2013.
[6]      M. A. Edmondson, J. F. Roberts, A. N. Baird, S. Bychawski, and D. G. Pugh, “Theriogenology of sheep and goats,” in Sheep and goat medicine, Elsevier, 2012, pp. 150–230.
[7]      M. J. Corbel, Brucellosis in humans and animals. World Health Organization, 2006.
[8]      Edgardo Moreno, “Retrospective and prospective perspectives on zoonotic brucellosis,” Front. Microbiol., vol. 5, p. 213, 2014.
[9]      S. Arif, P. C. Thomson, M. Hernandez-Jover, D. M. McGill, H. M. Warriach, and J. Heller, “Knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) relating to brucellosis in smallholder dairy farmers in two provinces in Pakistan,” PLoS One, vol. 12, no. 3, p. e0173365, 2017.
[10]    C. R. Pereira et al., “Occupational exposure to Brucella spp.: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis., vol. 14, no. 5, p. e0008164, 2020.
[11]    F. F. Tuon, R. B. Gondolfo, and N. Cerchiari, “Human‐to‐human transmission of Brucella–a systematic review,” Trop. Med. Int. Heal., vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 539–546, 2017.
[12]    M. Ertem, A. E. Kürekçi, D. Aysev, E. Ünal, and A. Ikincioğulları, “Brucellosis transmitted by bone marrow transplantation,” Bone Marrow Transplant., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 225–226, 2000.
[13]    E. Meltzer, Y. Sidi, G. Smolen, M. Banai, S. Bardenstein, and E. Schwartz, “Sexually transmitted brucellosis in humans,” Clin. Infect. Dis., vol. 51, no. 2, pp. e12–e15, 2010.
[14]    O. Mesner et al., “The many faces of human-to-human transmission of brucellosis: congenital infection and outbreak of nosocomial disease related to an unrecognized clinical case,” Clin. Infect. Dis., vol. 45, no. 12, pp. e135–e140, 2007.
[15]    G. Tian et al., “A case report on mother-to-child transmission of Brucella in human, China,” BMC Infect. Dis., vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 1–4, 2019.
[16]    D. Jaff, “Brucellosis in Iraqi Kurdistan: an overview,” J. Entomol. Zool. Stud., vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 1113–1115, 2016.
[17]    S. M. Fallatah, A. J. Oduloju, S. N. Al-Dusari, and Y. M. Fakunle, “Human brucellosis in Northern Saudi Arabia.,” Saudi Med. J., vol. 26, no. 10, pp. 1562–1566, 2005.
[18]    M. Moosazadeh, R. Nikaeen, G. Abedi, M. Kheradmand, and S. Safiri, “Epidemiological and clinical features of people with Malta fever in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Osong public Heal. Res. Perspect., vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 157–167, 2016.
[19]    S. Malaysiana, S. Bruselosis, K. Peladang, K. T. Veterinar, and K.- Bejo, “Seroprevalence of Brucellosis among Farmers and Veterinary Technical Staff in Peninsular Malaysia,” vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 933–943, 2017.
[20]    A. Shehada and M. Abu Halaweh, “Risk factors for human brucellosis in northern Jordan,” EMHJ-Eastern Mediterr. Heal. Journal, 19 (2), 135-140, 2013, 2013.
[21]    F. A. S. Meky, E. A. Hassan, A. M. Abdel Hafez, A. M. Aboul Fetouh, and S. M. S. El Ghazali, “Epidemiology and risk factors of brucellosis in Alexandria governorate,” EMHJ-Eastern Mediterr. Heal. Journal, 13 (3), 677-685, 2007, 2007.
[22]    I. I. Musallam, M. N. Abo-Shehada, Y. M. Hegazy, H. R. Holt, and F. J. Guitian, “Systematic review of brucellosis in the Middle East: disease frequency in ruminants and humans and risk factors for human infection,” Epidemiol. Infect., vol. 144, no. 4, pp. 671–685, 2016.
[23]    F. Casalinuovo, L. Ciambrone, A. Cacia, and P. Rippa, “Contamination of bovine, sheep and goat meat with Brucella spp.,” Ital. J. food Saf., vol. 5, no. 3, 2016.
[24]    M. Golshani and S. Buozari, “A review of brucellosis in Iran: epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis, control, and prevention,” Iran. Biomed. J., vol. 21, no. 6, p. 349, 2017.
Al- Anbar Medical Journal
Volume 18, Issue 1
June 2022
Page 5-9
Files
Share
Export Citation
Statistics