Seroprevalerice of brucellosis--- a disease of great zoonotic potentials and implications----- on 552 cattle, 523 buffaloes, 554 sheep, 524 goats and 87 butchers (working at the abattoir) was studied. Various serologic tests employed for this investigation comprised the slide agglutination test for primary screening and the standard tube agglutination test (SAT) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for further processing of the sera i.e. quantitation of anti-Brucella antibodies. The slide agglutination test recorded a higher prevalence of the disease whereas both the SAT and ELISA displayed a similar picture of the prevalence. A higher prevalence was noted in buffaloes than cattle while goats outnumbered sheep in this respect.
The prevalence of the disease by agglutination test was found to be 27(4.89), 25(4.527.), 23(4.397.) and 9(10.34X) in cattle, sheep, goats and butchers, respectively, whereas SAT and ELISA registered a prevalence of 18(3.447.), 9(1.627.) and 15(2.067.) respectively buffaloes, sheep and goat!3; however, in human the slide 37(7.07), buffaloes, both the 12(2.177.), in cattle, beings, the
SAT revealed an incidence of 5(5.747.), while the ELISA figured it to be 4(4.59). The influence of various epidemiological factors such as age, sex etc. was proved. Female animals exhibited a higher prevalence (2.97, 3.79, 1.91 and 3.16 per cent in cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats respectively by the SAT and ELISA) in contrast to the male animals which reflected a lower one (1.41, 1.98, 1.07 and 2.08 per cent, respectively). In cattle and buffaloes above
3-years-age, the prevalnece of brucellosis was recorded to be 2.95 and 4.30 per cent respectively, whereas, sheep and goats above 9 month age demonstrated a prevalence of 2.27 and 3.62 per cent respectively by the SAT and ELISA. Younger animals were all negative.
The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was found to be a more reliable, sensitive and specific approach than the slide agglutination and standard tube agglutination tests since the former either did not at all react to the sera with a SAT titre of lesser than 1 in 40 or expressed a titre of I in 80 (on a few sera only) which was not of any diagnostic value. The ELISA titres were, on average, about 8 times higher than the corresponding SAT titres.
The results of this study have revealed an alarming prevalence of brucellosis in our animals, which calls for an emergant response of experts for reappraisal and reassessment of the present brucellosis control situation, especially the disease being an important zoonosis and potential threat to the human health.