Risk perception, seroprevalence, and real-time PCR detection of Brucella among pyretic patients and domestic animals in Kwara State, Nigeria

Brucellosis is a neglected, reportable, and under-reported zoonosis that poses a significant public health challenge in endemic countries like Nigeria. In this study, the risk perception was assessed and 103 pyretic patients from three local government areas of Kwara State, Nigeria were screened by using Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT) and confirmed the analytical sensitivity through real-time PCR (qPCR). We further screened 150 cattle and 52 goats from within a 1-km radius of pyretic patients to determine disease burden in domestic animal reservoirs. Our findings revealed that most of the farmers have heard of brucellosis (89.3%, n = 92/103) while 38.8% (n = 40/103) reported they could identify the symptoms of brucellosis in their herds. The most important risk factors were the consumption of raw milk (92.2%, n = 95/103) and animal abortion within the last year (19.4%, n = 20/103). Also, most study participants (94.2%, n = 97/103) did not believe that they could be infected with the disease. The seroprevalence of brucellosis in humans was 5.8% (n = 6/103) and there was 100% concordance between the results of the RBPT and qPCR in humans. The seroprevalence was 18% and 25% in cattle and goats respectively. The qPCR revealed a lower prevalence rate of 11.3% and 15.4% in cattle and goats respectively. There was high discordance in sensitivity between the RBPT and qPCR in animal samples screened, although both tests had an analytical specificity of 100%. There was no association between awareness and positivity for brucellosis among the study participants and none of the sociodemographic variables significantly influenced the brucellosis positivity rate of humans. Public health physicians and community health workers should consider brucellosis as a differential diagnosis when clerking pyretic patients. In addition, we advocate for mass animal vaccinations and public education with an emphasis on identified risks.