Trends of human brucellosis in pastoralist communities based on hospital records during 2013–2016 in Ngorongoro District, Tanzania

Abstract

Brucellosis is among the neglected zoonotic disease which mostly affects the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities because they are exposed to many risk factors for the infection. A four-year (2013–2016) retrospective study was carried out to determine the sero-prevalence of human brucellosis in patients at Wasso and Endulen hospitals in Ngorongoro district, Tanzania. Hospitalization records were reviewed and serological positive cases of brucellosis were classified according to: year recorded, hospital facility, areas of residence, age, sex and season of the year. A total of 794 (5.8%) brucellosis cases from 111 villages/areas were diagnosed out of 13642 patients admitted at Wasso and Endulen hospitals. Most of brucellosis cases (35.5%, n=282) and (34.8%, n=276) were recorded in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Wasso hospital had more cases (6.9%) compared to Endulen (3.5%) and the difference was statistically significant (P= 0.0000001). More Brucella positive cases (P=0.0006681) were observed in females than males. Similarly, adult individuals suffered more (P=0.00000001) than young ones. Most of the cases (P=0.00000001) were observed during the rainy seasons. Brucellosis is prevalent in Ngorongoro district which affects mostly women and adults, and therefore, an important public health problem. These findings merit for more extensive epidemiological investigations of brucellosis in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Tanzania.

Keywords: Brucellosis, zoonotic disease, sero-prevalence, hospital records