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Abstract

ABSTRACT:This study was conducted to monitoring human brucellosis among Erbil Governorate.A total of 280 blood samples were collected from male (146) and female (134). Information about persons was recorded, including sex, age, and place of habitation. These samples comprised 155 and 125 blood samples from rural and urban area respectively. The overall prevalence of brucella antibodies was (8.6%).The highest rate was found in female (9.7%), while the lowest rate was from the male (7.5 %). The prevalence rate among male was high (10.3 %) in age group 31-40 years, while in females were high (19.2%) in age group 21-30 years. Out of 280 blood samples, only (5.7%) brucella isolates were found. The isolation of Brucella abortus were (57.1%) and (66.7 %), while (42.9%) and (33.3%) were Brucella melitensis from male and female respectively. The relation between result of RBT and isolation of Brucella species achieved that (7.5 %) and (9.7%) from male and female were positive according to RBT, compared with (4.8%) and (6.7%) gave isolates of Brucella species respectively. According to the habitation of the participants, high prevalence rate (9.7%) among Rural area, whereas (7.2%) among urban area. The highest rate were found in September (12.0%), while the lowest rate were in July (6.7%).This study clarified that brucellosis is still one of a significant public health challenge for Iraqi Kurdistan. We recommend that the RBT play significant role in monitoring of human brucellosis.