Seroprevalence of Brucellosis in Patients Having Complained of Joint Pain: A Case Control.

Background: Brucellosis is a neglected zoonotic disease affecting humans and animals.

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in patients with joint pain.

Methods: A total of 200 participants aged from 7 to 86 years were involved in this study. Blood samples were collected from all the participants for two years, from September 2019 to September 2021, and screened for  using anti-brucella IgM ELISA and anti-brucella IgG ELISA antibodies. A questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics and human brucellosis-related risk factors.

Results: Human seroprevalence was 19 (9.5%) for IgM ELISA and 23 (11.5%) for IgG ELISA. The sensitivity for  IgM ELISA and  IgG ELISA was 65.2% and 31.6%, respectively, while the specificity was 44.1% for  IgM ELISA and 77.9% for IgG ELISA. All blood culture reports of all patients were negative. The principal presentation was the observable symptoms of human brucellosis: fever, headache, chills, myalgia, and Joint pain.

Conclusion: Risk factors like consumption of raw milk or their products were found to be the most important for  infection, so the awareness or information of risk factors and the modes of transmission is much more important in control and prevention programs. General awareness about clinical symptoms should be increased, which will improve proper diagnosis and will be helpful in early treatment. An ELISA test should be considered for diagnosing brucellosis in both acute and chronic phases.