Abstract
BackgroundHuman brucellosis has been found to be prevalent in the urban areas of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. A cross-sectional study was designed to generate precise information on the prevalence of brucellosis in cattle and risk factors for the disease in its urban and peri-urban dairy farming systems.ResultsThe adjusted herd prevalence of brucellosis was 6.5% (11/177, 95% CI: 3.6%-10.0%) and the adjusted individual animal prevalence was 5.0% (21/423, 95% CI: 2.7% - 9.3%) based on diagnosis using commercial kits of the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CELISA) for Brucella abortus antibodies. Mean within-herd prevalence was found to be 25.9% (95% CI: 9.7% - 53.1%) and brucellosis prevalence in an infected herd ranged from 9.1% to 50%. A risk factor could not be identified at the animal level but two risk factors were identified at the herd level: large herd size and history of abortion. The mean number of milking cows in a free-grazing herd (5.0) was significantly larger than a herd with a movement restricted (1.7, p < 0.001).ConclusionsVaccination should be targeted at commercial large-scale farms with free-grazing farming to control brucellosis in cattle in and around Kampala city.
Highlights
Human brucellosis has been found to be prevalent in the urban areas of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda
At the individual animal level, 21 of 423 cows were positive with the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CELISA) and the adjusted prevalence was 5.0%
A previous study of only 16 farms in central and southern parts of Uganda reported a high prevalence of brucellosis at the herd level (56.3%, 9/16) and at animal level, 5.0% (19/383) using both the Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and serum agglutination test (SAT) [15]
Summary
Human brucellosis has been found to be prevalent in the urban areas of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. A cross-sectional study was designed to generate precise information on the prevalence of brucellosis in cattle and risk factors for the disease in its urban and peri-urban dairy farming systems. The disease in humans, known as ‘undulant fever’, ‘Mediterranean fever’ or ‘Malta fever’ [2], remains an important public health problem. Only B. abortus, B. suis and B. melitensis have been considered as zoonotic pathogens but recent reports have shown that the newly recognised marine mammal species have zoonotic potential [3,4]. Out of these zoonotic Brucella species, bulk of human diseases is caused by B. abortus and B. melitensis [4]. Brucellosis in cattle (mainly caused by Brucella abortus) poses a significant threat as a source of infection to humans and
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