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AIMS Microbiology

2024, Volume 10, Issue 1: 1-11. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2024001
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Research article

Seroprevalence of brucellosis among animal handlers in West Bengal, India: an occupational health study

  • 1.
    Department of Microbiology, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata 700073, India
  • 2.
    Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00185, Italy
  • 3.
    Centre for One Health, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Delhi 110054, India
  • These two authors contributed equally to this work.
  • Received: 18 September 2023 Revised: 11 December 2023 Accepted: 20 December 2023 Published: 02 January 2024

  • Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonotic disease and a major human health problem worldwide. Due to its ways of transmission, direct or indirect contact with infected animals or their contaminated biological products, the disease exhibits strong occupational association with animal handlers comprising a significant population at risk. This study was undertaken to estimate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in animal handlers and to understand the epidemiological and serological aspects of the same. The animal handlers from the state of West Bengal, India were included in this study. It was a prospective and observational cohort study from November 2021 to March 2022. A total of 669 sera samples were collected from animal handlers and tested using various serological tests for Brucella antibodies. All serum samples were tested using the Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT), standard tube agglutination test (STAT), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). 106 (15.8%) patients were diagnosed with brucellosis among the total number of patients tested. Most of the patients affected with brucellosis belonged to the age group 51–60 years (23.5%). The seropositivity rate in male animal handlers was higher than female animal handlers in this study. More studies are needed to understand the occupational association of this disease. Awareness programs, safe livestock practices, and prevention of the disease by timely diagnosis must be implemented in order to control human brucellosis.

    Citation: Dolanchampa Modak, Silpak Biswas, Agnibho Mondal, Malabika Biswas, Maria Teresa Mascellino, Banya Chakraborty, Simmi Tiwari, Ajit Dadaji Shewale, Tushar Nale, Rupali Dey. Seroprevalence of brucellosis among animal handlers in West Bengal, India: an occupational health study[J]. AIMS Microbiology, 2024, 10(1): 1-11. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2024001

    Related Papers:

  • Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonotic disease and a major human health problem worldwide. Due to its ways of transmission, direct or indirect contact with infected animals or their contaminated biological products, the disease exhibits strong occupational association with animal handlers comprising a significant population at risk. This study was undertaken to estimate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in animal handlers and to understand the epidemiological and serological aspects of the same. The animal handlers from the state of West Bengal, India were included in this study. It was a prospective and observational cohort study from November 2021 to March 2022. A total of 669 sera samples were collected from animal handlers and tested using various serological tests for Brucella antibodies. All serum samples were tested using the Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT), standard tube agglutination test (STAT), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). 106 (15.8%) patients were diagnosed with brucellosis among the total number of patients tested. Most of the patients affected with brucellosis belonged to the age group 51–60 years (23.5%). The seropositivity rate in male animal handlers was higher than female animal handlers in this study. More studies are needed to understand the occupational association of this disease. Awareness programs, safe livestock practices, and prevention of the disease by timely diagnosis must be implemented in order to control human brucellosis.


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    Acknowledgments


    Authors thank the technical assistance of Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI), Bengaluru, India.

    Conflicts of interest


    Maria Teresa Mascellino is an editorial board member for AIMS Microbiology and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. All authors declare that there are no competing interests.

    Author contributions


    Dolanchampa Modak, Silpak Biswas, Malabika Biswas: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation and Writing Original Draft, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Writing Review and Editing; Agnibho Mondal: Data curation and Formal Analysis; Maria Teresa Mascellino: Validation, Writing Review and Editing; Banya Chakraborty, Simmi Tiwari, Ajit Dadaji Shewale, Tushar Nale, Rupali Dey: Conceptualization, Supervision, Project Administration, Validation, Writing Review and Editing.

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