Seroprevalence of human Brucella antibodies and associated risk factors among patients seeking medical attention in selected health facilities in western province of Zambia.
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Date
2024
Authors
Mambote, Armand Mayindu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Brucellosis is a neglected zoonotic disease that affects humans and animals and can lead to severe illness in humans and financial losses for households that rear livestock. In human cases, the disease presents with fever, fatigue or malaise, flu-like symptoms, weight loss, headaches and back pains. Most human brucellosis occurs in rural regions where individuals live in close proximity to their livestock and ingest contaminated raw milk and milk products. In Zambia,
there is a paucity of information on the seroprevalence of human brucellosis and its risk factors in the human population. The study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of human Brucella antibodies and associated risk factors among patients seeking medical attention at community hospitals.
A cross-sectional seroepidemiological study was conducted from 21st April 2023 to 12th January 2024 among patients seeking medical attention at health facilities in selected districts of Western province in Zambia. 225 blood samples were collected from consenting participants. Sera were separated and analysed for anti-Brucella antibodies using the Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and Competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) in serial
interpretation. A questionnaire was administered to obtain epidemiological data related to exposure to the Brucella pathogen. The data obtained were coded and entered in the Micro Soft Excel 2013® and analysed using STATA version 15® (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA). The odds ratio, 95% confidence interval, and Fisher's exact tests were computed to see the degree of association of the risk factors with Brucella seropositivity. Using the cut-off of
P.I.< 30% and P.I. ≥ 30% for c-ELISA respectively negative and positive. Only 197 sera samples were found acceptable for testing and analysis for this study, out of these, the seroprevalence of Brucella antibodies was 18.3% (n=36, 95% CI=12.8-23.6) on RBT and 4.57% (n=9, 95% CI=3.25-14.8) on c-ELISA (p-value=0.412) respectively. Among the risk factors considered only the number of animals was statistically significant to Brucella seropositivity (OR 6.49, 95% CI=1.10-38.13, p-value = 0.039). Brucella antibodies are prevalent among patients attending health facilities in the Western province of Zambia. To
reduce the risk of exposure, the general public needs to be educated about the brucellosis disease. Additionally, farmers should be encouraged to vaccinate their animals.
Description
Thesis of Master of Science in One Health Analytical Epidemiology