Epidemiological characteristics of brucellosis and evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention measures in the Central Bosnia Canton during 2003-2012

Aim To analyze the epidemiological variations of trend of brucellosisin domestic animals and population in the Central BosniaCanton during the period 2003 - 2012.Methods Epidemiological and laboratory indicators of theincidence of brucellosis among animals and humans wereretrospectively collected. Diagnostic testing of animals wasperformed by serological test in the Veterinary School of theUniversity of Sarajevo, and the population testing was performedin the Institute for Public Health, Central Bosnia Canton,using quantitative ELISA test for detection of IgG, IgM, andIgA brucella antibodies.Results A total of 528 affected people were registered and7500 herds of domestic animals were isolated. All infected peoplewere hospitalized. Infected herds were separated from theflock and euthanized. The highest number of infected peoplewas registered in 2008, with 162 infected persons (incidenceof 64. 8/100,000). Males were infected more frequently thanfemales, 379 (72%), and 149 (28%), respectively. The mostaffected was the working age population, between the age of18 and 54, in 342 (64%) of cases. The highest number of infectedpeople were registered in the Travnik municipality, 361(68.5%) in 38 inhabited places, with the cumulative incidenceof 696/100,000. The annual incidence was from 2.4/100,000in 2003 over 64.8/100,000 during 2008, and up to 4/100,000population in 2012.Conclusion Complete, comprehensive, and multidisciplinaryapproach to the development of health care program for peopleand animals, its implementation and evaluation of measurescould lead to a significant decrease of the incidence rate in arelatively short time period.