Brucellosis is not a major cause of febrile illness in patients at public health care facilities in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam.
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.
Nga
Tran T T
TT
Department of Microbiology, Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
de Vries
Peter J
PJ
Abdoel
Theresia H
TH
Smits
Henk L
HL
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
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D012395:Rose Bengal