Prevalence of human brucellosis and associated factors among febrile patients aged 18 years and above attending Kaabong general hospital, Karamoja region, Uganda

Abstract

Introduction: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that commonly infects both humans and animals causing public health concerns such as food safety, the disease also affects animal health, animal production, and trade in live animals and their products. The high-risk groups such as farmers and herdsmen can easily contract the disease by consuming raw milk, and also getting in close contact with the diseased animals, hence controlling brucellosis is important. In Kaabong district, the prevalence of human brucellosis and the contributing factors are not known. This study generated the data on the magnitude and risk factors for brucellosis required to guide the design and implementation of public health interventions. Objective: To determine the prevalence of human brucellosis and associated factors among febrile patients aged 18 years and above attending Kaabong general hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among two hundred thirty-four adult patients aged 18 years and above presenting with fever or history of fever at Kaabong General Hospital. Data was collected from the participants using a structured questionnaire. A blood sample was collected from each participant and the serum samples were screened for brucellosis using Rose Bengel Plate Test (RBPT). The RBPT positive samples were subjected to indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (i-ELISA) test to confirm the presence of brucella antibodies. Quantitative data was analysed using multivariable logistic regression and odds ratio with their 95% confidence intervals (CI) as the measure of the association were calculated using STATA version 14. Results: A total of 234 febrile patients were screened for human brucellosis, the overall prevalence using both RBPT (screening test) and i-ELISA (confirmatory test) was 8.6% (20/234). The prevalence of Brucellosis was higher among males, 16% (17/106) compared to females 2.3 % (3/128). Multivariable analysis showed that age 26-35 years (AOR =6.54, 95% Cl; 1.04-40.98, p=0.045), being male (AOR =33.3, 95% Cl; 5.85-190.09, p<0.001), formal education (AOR=0.07, 95% Cl 0.013-0.40 P=0.003), and consumption of raw milk on weekly basis (AOR=13.79, 95% Cl 1.37-139.37 P=0.026) were significantly associated with human brucellosis. Conclusion: Human brucellosis prevalence among febrile patients attending Kaabong General Hospital was low. The factors significantly associated with human brucellosis were sex, age, education and consumption of raw milk. The clinicians should screen patients who are at high risk of exposure to brucellosis presenting with fever or history of fever in the past 7 days. There is need to conduct sensitization on the risk factors associated with human brucellosis, targeting males, individuals aged 26-35 years and those with low education but are more at risk of getting brucellosis. Conduct health education on the consumption of boiled/pasteurized milk. There is need for multisectoral collaboration (One health approach) to effectively control human brucellosis.