Brucellosis in the Pastoral Districts of Afar Region, Ethiopia : Serological and Cultural Detection of Brucella Infection in Camels and Herdsmen

Brucellosis is prevalent in the camel-rearing pastoral communities of Afar region, Ethiopia, and this zoonotic disease is causing extensive camel production losses and ailments in herdsmen and their family members. A work was done to determine the prevalence and risk factors allied with the occurrence of brucellosis in Afar region, Ethiopia. Camels and herders were included in the investigation and the overall prevalence of camel and human brucellosis was 7.6% and 15%, respectively, by complement fixation test. Microbiological techniques were used for the cultural detection and identification of the Brucella organism and it was isolated from raw camel milk samples indicating that the social custom of raw milk consumption of pastoral community is the main risk factor for human brucellosis. The overall findings of this investigation indicated that human and camel brucellosis is widely distributed in the districts of Afar and the author recommended further studies on serotyping and molecular detection of the organism in order to attempt development of vaccine against local strains of Brucella and hence, design sustainable control and prevention measure.