A Review on Brucellosis in Tanzania: Prevalence in Livestock, Wildlife, and Humans from 1962-2021, Public Awareness and Knowledge on the Disease, and the Way Forward towards Disease Control

Abstract

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease which is among the most widespread and neglected diseases in the world. Most affected parts of the world include the Mediterranean countries of Europe, North and East Africa, the Middle East, South and Central Asia as well as Central and South America. This paper reviews the prevalence of brucellosis in Tanzania as well as public awareness and knowledge on the disease in the past six decades, from 1962 to 2021. Literatures were searched using Google Scholar database. The criteria for literature inclusion or exclusion were the type of literature, year of publication and the country where the study was conducted. In livestock, the disease prevalence ranged from 2.16 to 48% in cattle, 0.2 to 13.79% in goats and 0 to 23% in sheep. A prevalence of 0.7% was reported in pigs. In humans, the prevalence ranged from 0 to 48.4%. The prevalence of brucellosis in wildlife was 0% in baboon, 25% in hyena, 30% in impala, 36.8% in lions, 4% in zebra, ranged from 7.9 to 24% in African buffalo and 3.8 to 17% in wildebeest. Generally, the public awareness and knowledge on the disease were low due to the lack of a well- established channel for sharing of research findings which is friendly to all stakeholders. In the past six decades more emphasis was on research which led to generation of data presented in this review. Although education campaigns to raise public awareness and knowledge on the disease transmission, its control, and socio-economic effects were recommended in many reports, no significant work was done during the period under review. In order to control and prevent brucellosis in the country, embarking on education campaigns to raise public awareness and knowledge on the disease is a recommended way forward, followed by implementation of other objectives outlined in the National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Brucellosis in Humans and Animals.
 Keywords: Brucellosis, Education campaigns, Neglected, Widespread, Zoonotic.