Human Brucellosis: An Observational Study From a Tertiary Care Centre in North India.

Abstract

The main aim/objective of this study was to detect and characterize theBrucella speciesfrompatients having complaints of joint pain and also to know thepotential causes of human brucellosis. In our study, we focused on joint pain symptoms that may be due to arthralgia or arthritis. Introduction: Brucellosis is a neglected zoonotic disease that affects both humans and animals.In humans, brucellosis begins with chronic illness leading to greatfinanciallosses fromnot being able to work welland continued treatment costs, butfew such studies have come from northern India.Joint pain is the common presentation of brucellosis and there are several risk factors associated with brucellosis. A total of 200 blood samples were collected from the participants having joints pain from September 2019 to September 2021 at Gandhi Memorial & Associated Hospitals ofKing George's Medical University, Lucknow, India, and tested by serology for anti-BrucellaIgM and IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA),moleculartests byreverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and automated blood culture system.The anti-Brucella IgM and IgG ELISA were performed using the kit from NovaTec Immundiagnostica GmbH (Dietzenbach, Germany). Isolation of DNAwas carried out using the QIAamp DNA Mini kit (QIAGEN,Hilden, Germany), and the primers and probes specific for targeted regions (BCSP31 and IS711 gene)in theBrucellagenome were procured from Eurofins Scientific SE (Luxembourg, France), and for internal control from CDC. The study showed 19(9.5%) and 23 (11.5%) positive results by anti-BrucellaIgM ELISA and anti-BrucellaIgG, respectively, andof these, one (0.5%) was positive for both anti-BrucellaIgM and anti-BrucellaIgG ELISA.Out of 19 anti-Brucella IgM ELISA positive, eight (4%) samples were positive forPCR/RT-PCRandthat was negative for anti-Brucella IgG ELISA. All blood culture reports of all patients were negative. Conclusion: Anti-Brucella IgM ELISA was more accurate than anti-Brucella IgG ELISA in detecting human brucellosis. Consumption of animal products(i.e. milk, a dairy product of cow, buffalo, goat, and meat of goat)and contact with animals were themain risk factors that were identifiedfor Brucelladisease.