Seroepidemiology of human Brucella infection in Yixing, China

Brucellosis is a common zoonotic infection worldwide and a major public health problem in developing countries including China. The aim of our study was to investigate the seroprevalence of Brucella infection in humans in Yixing, located at the centre of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration. A total of 895 sera from apparently healthy abattoir workers and 3303 sera from general healthy people living in rural areas were collected in Yixing, screened by Rose-Bengal plate agglutination test (RBPT) and the positives were confirmed by standard tube agglutination test (SAT) according to official Chinese diagnostic criteria. Seropositivity among abattoir workers was 16.42% compared to zero among the general population living in rural areas. No significant difference of seropositivity was observed in age groups. Contact or inhalation of Brucella organisms from infected animals, principally goats, was found to be a significant risk factor. Education in occupational hygiene and public healthcare programmes are needed to control this emerging problem.