-Original-

Epidemiological and Clinical Aspects of Human Brucellosis in Eastern Anatolia

Cenk Aypak¹, Adalet Altunsoy² and Ali Kutta Çelik²

¹Department of Family Medicine, Gevas Hospital, Turkey
²Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Van Education and Research Hospital, Turkey

Background: We investigated the seroprevalence of human brucellosis and risk factors in a village in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, where a brucellosis outbreak among cattle had recently occurred.
Patients and Methods: All 501 inhabitants enrolled were screened with the Rose Bengal Test and were asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine the signs and symptoms of brucellosis and the risk factors. Patients' laboratory findings and clinical responses were also evaluated.
Results: The Rose Bengal Test was positive in 44 persons. In comparison of age groups, fever (20.2%), arthralgia (19.2%) and weight loss (8.4%) were frequently seen in children (p<0.05). Hepatomegaly (17.9%) was also prevalent in the age group of 0 to 14 years (p<0.05). The consumption of dairy products, a family history of brucellosis, and raising livestock were significantly related to seropositivity (p<0.05). Rifampicin plus doxycyline was the most common regimen administered in these cases (54.5%) and also had the highest relapse rate (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Brucellosis remains an important public-health problem in the rural areas of Turkey. Appropriate public health measures and education must be pursued to eradicate human brucellosis.

J Nippon Med Sch 2012; 79: 343-348

Keywords
brucellosis, epidemiology, signs, symptoms, treatment outcome

Correspondence to
Cenk Aypak, Department of Family Medicine, Gevas Hospital, 65110, Van, Turkey
cenkaypak@yahoo.com

Received, September 9, 2011
Accepted, March 21, 2012