Sero-Epidemiological Survey of Brucellosis in Farm Animals in Khuzestan Province, Iran

Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases caused by different species of Brucella spp. This zoonotic disease has always been important from an economic and healthcare point of view, so many countries are trying to eradicate the disease from the farm animal population. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the sero-epidemiology of brucellosis in farm animals in Behbahan city, Khuzestan province, Iran. For this purpose, 330 serum samples were collected as the study population to track brucellosis prevalence. From March to June 2022, the samples were analyzed by Rose Bengal, Wright and 2-Mercaptoethanol tests. The results obtained in the present study indicated that 3.6% of the studied animals were infected with brucella bacteria. Examining the results of 2-Mercaptoethanol indicated that in general, 58.3% (7 samples) of the examined animals whose initial test results were positive had positive 2-Mercaptoethanol, which means chronic brucellosis was determined. There was no difference in the frequency of brucellosis between animal species (p>0.05). The contamination in female animals (2.6%) was significantly higher than that of male animals (p<0.05). The results of this study demonstrated that brucellosis was a prevalent disease among farm animals in Behbahan city. It is important to note that the widespread occurrence of brucellosis among farm animals could be distributed to the human population. This underscores the imperative for the implementation of an efficacious program to control, prevent and ultimately eradicate this infectious agent in this area.