Brucellosis in food-producing animals in Mosul, Iraq: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Brucellosis is an endemic disease in food-producing animals in Mosul, Iraq. The objectives of the study reported here were: (i) to identify and assess the evidence and knowledge gaps in published studies that have examined brucellosis in different food-producing animals in Mosul, Iraq; using systematic review approach, and (ii) to quantify the seroprevalence of brucellosis in the city using meta-analysis approach. Google Scholar was used as a search engine to track pertinent peer-reviewed research reports. The search was conducted on November 24, 2019. Keywords used were: brucella, animal, Mosul, Iraq. Peer-reviewed published studies, MSc theses, and PhD dissertations written in Arabic or English were included. Duplicate records were removed, and the screening process was conducted at three levels: titles, abstracts, and full-text articles. Identified studies that have reported the seroprevalence of brucellosis were included in a meta-analysis to calculate an overall prevalence. A total of 214 records were initially identified. Seventeen research reports were added from personal contact and qualified articles' references list. Thirty six articles were qualified for review after removing 35 duplicate records, 155 titles, 11 abstracts, and 5 full text articles. Seventeen studies reported the prevalence of brucellosis, 11 studies assessed different serological tests for diagnosis of brucellosis, 9 studies isolated Brucella spp. from animal specimens and/or animal products, and 4 studies assessed vaccination procedures against brucellosis. The overall seroprevalence of brucellosis in food-producing animals in Mosul over a period of 40 years was 14.14%, including 14.46% for sheep, 12.99% for goats, 11.69% for cattle, and 22.64% for buffalo. The study concluded that the disease is evident in the city with increasing trends over the years, buffalo shows high seroprevalence, the degree of agreement of Rose-Bengal test as a screening test is fair compared to more accurate serological tests such as ELISA; and the disease constitutes a public health concern in the city. Additional studies are important to identify the overlooked predisposing factors, estimate the abortion rate attributable to brucellosis in food-producing animals, and evaluate efficacy of vaccination programs in reducing the prevalence of brucellosis and/or abortion rate.

The first study on seroprevalence and risk factors for zoonotic transmission of ovine and caprine brucellosis in the Province of Bam, Burkina Faso

“…Indeed, these authors observed a prevalence of 75% in sheep and 61.5% in goats. This result was lower than the results obtained in Iraq [42] The latter estimated prevalence of 14.46% in sheep and 12.99% in goats. Climate, livestock hygiene, age, sex, and the applied rearing system could certainly influence the seroprevalence of brucellosis in sheep and goats.…”

A cross sectional study on the seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis in Al-Najaf province in Iraq

“…Brucellosis is a bacterial infectious disease caused by the gram-negative Brucella species, that can affect domestic, wild animals as well as humans (1). Brucellosis can cause considerable economic losses in livestock production which have been estimated at 7-12 million dollars per each year (2). In Iraq, several studies have been carried out on brucellosis seroprevalence (3).…”

Brucellosis in Ethiopia: A comprehensive review of literature from the year 2000–2020 and the way forward

“…A large study in Nigeria also reported a higher prevalence of 26.3% from cattle reared in northern Nigeria (Mai et al., 2012). In the Middle East, where brucellosis is widely known among nomads, national‐ or regional‐level reports are noted to range from 7.0% to 16.7% (Al‐Majali et al., 2009; Dahl, 2020; Holt et al., 2011; Selim et al., 2019). Indeed, the comparisons made are not sufficient, but they provide an idea on the variability of brucellosis seroprevalence from country to country that call for attention to introduce working intervention strategies that account for local contexts.…”