title: Prevalence of bovine and human brucellosis in western Algeria: comparison of screening tests.
abstract: A serological study was carried out in Tiaret province in western Algeria on 1032 cows distributed in 95 flocks to estimate the prevalence of Brucella infection and to compare the sensitivity and specificity of a range of agglutination tests. Screening tests showed 31.5% of herds positive using the buffered plate antigen test and 26.3% using the rose Bengal test compared with 15.7% with the complement fixation test. Using the complement fixation test as the gold standard for confirmatory tests, the Rivanol test was found to be more sensitive but less specific than tube agglutination in detecting brucellosis infection. Three isolates were identified from 105 blood samples from humans with brucellosis and 50 samples of milk and tissues from infected cows and they were all Brucella melitensis biovar 3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agronomic and Veterinary Sciences, Tiaret University, Tiaret, Algeria. h_aggad@yahoo.com
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aggad
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boukraa
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D000462:Algeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D017347:Brucella melitensis / Q000276:immunology; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012395:Rose Bengal; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D012395:Rose Bengal