Epidemiological study of brucellosis in Maneh & Semelghan town, North Khorasan province, in 2008-2009

Brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by one of the Zoonosis and may appear in clinical, sub clinical or chronic forms. Brucellosis is prevalent in northern Khorasan province,thus this study was designed to investigate epidemiological characteristics of infected subjects in Mane &Samalghan town of northern Khorasan province in 2008-2009. In this cross-sectional study, all confirmed and suspected cases were collected from clinics, laboratories and health centers. After collecting and extracting data from their records, data were analyzed using SPSS 16 by employing statistical technique of Chi Square. A p-value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. All confirmed and suspected cases in 2008-2009 were 64. Incidence rate of brucellosis in these years (2008-2009) was 25/2 and 38/6 and average incidence rate in these years was 39/1 per 100000 people. 44 (68/8%) subjects were male, 14(21/9%) subjects were 11-20 years old and 53 subjects were reported having past history of animal contact. The relation of age, sex and animal contact with subject’s job was statistically significant. It was found out that incidence rate trend of brucellosis increased significantly and this occupational disease has relationship with age, sex and animal contact.