title: Brucellosis is not a major cause of febrile illness in patients at public health care facilities in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the presence of brucellosis among patients with acute febrile illness at health care facilities in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective seroepidemiological study on serum samples collected at 13 not adjacent health care facilities using the Rose Bengal test as a rapid screening test and the Brucella IgM/IgG flow assay as a simple confirmatory test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The seroprevalence in the Rose Bengal test among 406 patients presented with acute undifferentiated fever was 14.8%. Seven of the 64 Rose Bengal test positive samples reacted weakly (1+) positive in the Brucella IgM/IgG flow assay. No seroconversion was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Brucellosis is not a major cause of morbidity in Binh Thuan province.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Tran T T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Nga
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.forename: Theresia H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Abdoel
authors.forename: Henk L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Smits
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D002002:Brucella / Q000276:immunology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology*; D006268:Health Facilities; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012395:Rose Bengal; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D012395:Rose Bengal