title: Epidemiological, laboratory, diagnostic and public health aspects of human brucellosis in western Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine brucellosis's epidemiologic, laboratory, diagnostic and public health features considering brucellosis is endemic in Azna County, western Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive cross-sectional study was investigated on 43 patients with brucellosis in Azna County. The subjects were the patients with symptoms correspondent with brucellosis and positive Wright and 2ME tests. A questionnaire about demographic, epidemiological and laboratory findings was filled in. Afterwards, patients were treated using usual antimicrobial drugs regimen. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-three subjects were found to be positive in laboratory tests. Incidence of Brucellosis was 59.31 per hundred thousand population. About 34.9% of patients were female and 65.1% male. Nearly 95.2 % of human cases were living in rural and 4.8 % in urban areas. Around 20.9% of patients had history of animal contact. The commonest transmission was unpasteurized dairy products (79.1%). The most contagious seasons were summer and spring (60.3%). The most common age group was 15-24 (27.9%), and about 60.5% of the patients were between 15-44 years old. Disease was more common among housewives (30.2%) and farmers (20.9%). The majority of the patients had Wright test titre=1:320 (54.1%) and 2ME test titre=1:160 (56.1%) in serological titration. Doxycycline with Rifampin was used for treatment of the greatest of patients (60.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In order to control this zoonotic disease, close cooperation of health and veterinary organizations is necessary.
authors.affiliation: Health School, Ahwaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahwaz, Iran. Hamid.Kassiri@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kassiri
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amani
authors.forename: Massoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lotfi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012293:Rifampin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012424:Rural Population; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012293:Rifampin
keywords: Diagnosis; Epidemiology; Human brucellosis; Iran; Laboratory; Public health
references.citation: Croat Med J. 2010 Aug;51(4):327-36
references.pmid: 20718086
references.citation: Vet Microbiol. 2010 Jan 27;140(3-4):392-8
references.pmid: 19604656
references.citation: BMC Infect Dis. 2010 Dec 09;10:346
references.pmid: 21143881
references.citation: Int J Health Geogr. 2011 Oct 01;10:52
references.pmid: 21962176
references.citation: Iran J Med Sci. 2012 Mar;37(1):9-14
references.pmid: 23115425
references.citation: J Pak Med Assoc. 2012 Jan;62(1):44-6
references.pmid: 22352101
references.citation: Annu Rev Microbiol. 2011;65:523-41
references.pmid: 21939378
references.citation: Prilozi. 2010;31(1):33-54
references.pmid: 20703182
references.citation: Epidemiol Infect. 2004 Dec;132(6):1109-14
references.pmid: 15635968