Knowledge of Brucellosis, Health-Seeking Behaviour, and Risk Factors for <i>Brucella</i> Infection amongst Workers on Cattle Farms in Gauteng, South Africa
Brucellosis in humans is under-detected and underreported in sub-Saharan Africa. Risk factors associated with <i>Brucella</i> infection and health seeking behaviour in response to brucellosis-like symptoms, amongst cattle farm workers and veterinary officials in South Africa, are unknown...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
MDPI AG
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/7d1cc362233044e480238ed49b960a75 |
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| Sumario: | Brucellosis in humans is under-detected and underreported in sub-Saharan Africa. Risk factors associated with <i>Brucella</i> infection and health seeking behaviour in response to brucellosis-like symptoms, amongst cattle farm workers and veterinary officials in South Africa, are unknown. Farm workers and veterinary officials (<i>N</i> = 230) were screened for brucellosis using commercial Rose Bengal Test (RBT<sup>®</sup>), IgM Enzyme-linked Immunoassay (ELISA)<sup>®</sup>, IgG ELISA<sup>®</sup> and the BrucellaCapt<sup>®</sup> test. Knowledge of brucellosis and risk factors for exposure to <i>Brucella</i> were also investigated. Seroprevalence varied according to test used: 10.1% (RBT<sup>®</sup>), 20.9% (IgG ELISA<sup>®</sup>) and 6.5% (BrucellaCapt<sup>®</sup>). Only 22.2% (6/27) of veterinary officials opt to visit a clinic, doctor, or hospital in response to self-experienced brucellosis-like symptoms, compared to 74.9% (152/203) of farm workers (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Of the BrucellaCapt<sup>®</sup> seropositive participants, 53% (7/15) did not visit a clinic in response to brucellosis-like symptoms. Weak evidence of an association between the handling of afterbirth or placenta and infection of a short evolution (RBT<sup>®</sup>, IgM ELISA<sup>®</sup> and IgG ELISA<sup>®</sup> seropositive) was found (OR = 8.9, 95% CI: 1.0–81.1, <i>p</i> = 0.052), and strong evidence of an association between this outcome and the slaughter of cattle (OR = 5.3, 95% CI: 1.4–19.6, <i>p</i> = 0.013). There was strong evidence of a positive association between inactive/resolved infection and veterinary officials vs. farm workers exposed to seropositive herds (OR = 7.0, 95% CI: 2.4–20.2, <i>p</i> < 0.001), with a simultaneous negative association with the handling of afterbirth or placenta (OR = 3.9, 95% CI: 1.3–11.3, <i>p</i> = 0.012). Findings suggest a proportion of undetected clinical cases of brucellosis amongst workers on cattle farms in Gauteng. |
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