Epidemiological patterns of caprine brucellosis in an unvaccinated area, Mexico

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was carried out in order to determine some epidemiological patterns of caprine brucellosis in a non-vaccinated area from the State of Tamaulipas (Bustamante municipality), Mexico. From June to December of 1999, serum samples were obtained of 23,121 unvaccinated goats, 4 month old to 5 year old, distributed in 386 flocks from 27 rural communities. The presence of antibodies against B. abortus strain 1119-3 was determined with the Rose Bengal Test with 3\% of cell-concentration. The overall seroprevalence was, determined in 6.79\% of seropositive animals and 51.55\%; oh infected flocks. The seroprevalence of brucellosis was associated with females and the risk was higher when the size of flocks increased beginning from 70 heads and for rural communities with more than seven flocks. The study concludes that brucellosis constitutes a public health problem in the study region.