title: Human brucellosis in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2010-2015.
abstract: Worldwide, human brucellosis remains an important and widespread infection. In the past, there were limited data on the occurrence of human brucellosis in the United Arab Emirates and the reported incidence appeared to be low compared with similar areas. In 2009, a new web-based infectious disease surveillance system was introduced in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This paper reports data from this new system on human brucellosis for the 6 years 2010 to 2015.
  
  
  
  A dataset was extracted for each case of human brucellosis reported to the notification system for the 6 year period January 2010 to December 2015. Annual brucellosis rates by age-group, gender, nationality and, geographical region were calculated and compared.
  
  
  
  A total of 480 cases of brucellosis were reported. The overall crude notification rate was 3 · 3 per 100,000 population but higher rates were seen in certain population subgroups notably expatriate males of working age in the Eastern Region (approximately 10 per 100,000) and UAE nationals of all ages and both genders in Abu Dhabi (between 4 -- 24 per 100,000).
  
  
  
  These findings reflect environmental and behavioral factors linked to occupation and leisure time activities associated with the large number of small non-commercial livestock farms in Abu Dhabi. Controlling human brucellosis in these circumstances will be challenging.
authors.affiliation: Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Centre, Khasab Hospital, Khasab, Oman.
authors.forename: Nawal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al Shehhi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Farida
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Al Hosani
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Bashir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aden
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Iain_blair@uaeu.ac.ae.
authors.forename: Iain
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2451-8627
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Blair
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Abu Dhabi; Brucella; Emirati; Human brucellosis; Incidence; United Arab Emirates