Abstract
Brucellosis is a severe contagious disease that causes reproductive failure and has zoonotic potential with profound public health importance. It is one of the most important bacterial diseases, with more than 500,000 human cases annually worldwide. Human infection is acquired by consumption of unpasteurized milk or through direct contact with the infected animals or their aborted fetuses. The present study aimed to appraise the livestock owners’ knowledge, attitude, and practices related to brucellosis in Punjab, Pakistan. Among the livestock owners, 600 were interviewed to collect their knowledge about brucellosis and its zoonotic importance. The study population comprised smallholder dairy farmers having - up to 20 animals in their household. Of the 600 respondents, 61.3% and 87.3% were unaware of the term brucellosis and its zoonotic potential. Correlations show that the farmers’ educational status was positively associated with knowledge of the zoonotic potential of brucellosis (p < 0.001). More than 60% of the participants did not - suspect unpasteurized milk and raw meat as potential infection sources. Eighty-five per cent of the workers were found to be unaware about their local diagnostic test facility for brucellosis. Contact with aborted fetuses and other potential sources of infection without protective measures were common. Our study results delineated the association of diagnosed positive herd history for brucellosis on extending their calving period after abortion (p < 0.001). Our study indicated that the knowledge of brucellosis among the livestock owners was inadequate, which may increase the zoonotic risk. To improve awareness, extensive control programs are needed with a focus on rural and underdeveloped areas of the country to prevent animal-to-human transmission and reduce the disease incidence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The dataset generated for this study is available from the corresponding author upon request.
References
Adesokan H, Alabi P, Ogundipe M (2016) Prevalence and predictors of risk factors for brucellosis transmission by meat handlers and traditional healers’ risk practices in Ibadan, Nigeria. J Prevent Med Hyg 57(3):E164
Al-Shamahy H, Whitty C, Wright S (2000) Risk factors for human brucellosis in Yemen: a case-control study. Epidemiol Infect 125(2):309–313. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0950268899004458
Arif S, Thomson PC, Hernandez-Jover M, McGill DM, Warriach HM, Heller J (2017) Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) relating to brucellosis in smallholder dairy farmers in two provinces in Pakistan. PLoS One 12(3):e0173365. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173365
Arif S, Thomson PC, Hernandez-Jover M, McGill DM, Warriach HM, Hayat K, Heller J (2019) Bovine brucellosis in Pakistan; an analysis of engagement with risk factors in smallholder farmer settings. Vet Med Sci 5(3):390–401. https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.165
Cloete A, Gerstenberg C, Mayet N, Tempia S (2019) Brucellosis knowledge, attitudes, and practices of a south African communal cattle keeper group. Onderstepoort J Vet Res 86(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v86i1.1671
Díez JG, Coelho A (2013) Evaluation of cattle farmers’ knowledge of bovine brucellosis in Northeast Portugal. J Infect Publ Health 6(5):363–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2013.04.008
Doganay M, Aygen B (2003) Human brucellosis: an overview. Int J Infect Dis 7(3):173–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1201-9712(03)90049-X
Fournié G, Pfeiffer DU, Bendrey RJ (2017) Early animal farming and zoonotic disease dynamics: modelling brucellosis transmission in Neolithic goat populations. R Soc Open Sci 4(2):160943. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160943
Gusi AM, Bertu WJ, Jesús de Miguel M, Dieste-Pérez L, Smits HL, Ocholi RA et al. (2019) Comparative performance of lateral flow immunochromatography, iELISA and Rose Bengal tests for the diagnosis of cattle, sheep, goat and swine brucellosis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 13(6):e0007509. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007509
Hull NC, Schumaker BA (2018) Comparisons of brucellosis between human and veterinary medicine. Infect Ecol Epidemiol 8(1):1500846. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008686.2018.1500846
Jamil T, Kasi KK, Melzer F, Saqib M, Ullah Q, Khan MR et al. (2020). Revisiting brucellosis in small ruminants of western border areas in Pakistan. Pathogens 9(11):929. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9110929
Kansiime C, Mugisha A, Makumbi F, Mugisha S, Rwego IB, Sempa J, Kiwanuka SN, Asiimwe BB, Rutebemberwa E (2014) Knowledge and perceptions of brucellosis in the pastoral communities adjacent to Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda. BMC Public Health 14(1):242–243. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-242
Kothalawala KACHA, Makita K, Kothalawala H, Jiffry AM, Kubota S, Kono H (2018) Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to brucellosis and factors affecting knowledge sharing on animal diseases: a cross-sectional survey in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Trop Anim Health Prod 50(5):983–989. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-018-1521-y
Lai S, Zhou H, Xiong W, Gilbert M, Huang Z, Yu J et al (2017) Changing epidemiology of human brucellosis, China, 1955–2014. Emerg Infect Dis 23(2):184. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2302.151710
Lapaque N, Moriyon I, Moreno E, Gorvel J-P (2005) Brucella lipopolysaccharide acts as a virulence factor. Curr Opin Microbiol 8(1):60–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2004.12.003
Madut NA, Ocan M, Muwonge A, Muma JB, Nasinyama GW, Godfroid J et al (2019) Sero-prevalence of brucellosis among slaughterhouse workers in Bahr el Ghazal region, South Sudan. BMC Infect Dis 19(1):1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4066-4
Malik AM, Arshad M, Shah MA, Tariq M, Khan MA (2016) Dynamics of livestock population diversity in Punjab Province of Pakistan. Veterinaria 4:25–30
Mukhtar F, Kokab F (2008) Brucella serology in abattoir workers. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 20(3):57–61
Musallam II, Abo-Shehada MN, Guitian J (2015) Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with brucellosis in livestock owners in Jordan. Am J Trop Med Hyg 93(6):1148–1155. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.15-0294
Njenga MK, Ogolla E, Thumbi SM, Ngere I, Omulo S, Muturi M, Marwanga D, Bitek A, Bett B, Widdowson M-A (2020) Comparison of knowledge, attitude, and practices of animal and human brucellosis between nomadic pastoralists and non-pastoralists in Kenya. BMC Public Health 20(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8362-0
Pappas G, Papadimitriou P, Akritidis N, Christou L, Tsianos EV (2006) The new global map of human brucellosis. Lancet Infect Dis 6(2):91–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(06)70382-6
Park M-Y, Lee C-S, Choi Y-S, Park S-J, Lee J-S, Lee H-B (2005) A sporadic outbreak of human brucellosis in Korea. J Kor Med Sci 20(6):941–946. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2005.20.6.941
Peck ME, Jenpanich C, Amonsin A, Bunpapong N, Chanachai K, Somrongthong R, Alexander BH, Bender JB (2019) Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with brucellosis among small-scale goat farmers in Thailand. J Agromed 24(1):56–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/1059924X.2018
Rajkumar K, Bhattacharya A, David S, Balaji SH, Hariharan R, Jayakumar M, Balaji N (2016) Socio-demographic study on the extent of knowledge, awareness, attitude, and risks of zoonotic diseases among livestock owners in the Puducherry region. Vet World 9(9):1018–1024. https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2016.1018-1024
Singh BB, Kaur R, Gill GS, Gill J, Soni RK, Aulakh RS (2019) Knowledge, attitude, and practices relating to zoonotic diseases among livestock farmers in Punjab, India. Acta Trop 189:15–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2018.09.021
Suthar OP, Athar M, Aamir M, Ghafoor T (2018) Prevalence of brucellosis in Sindh Pakistan. Iproc 4(1):e10641. https://doi.org/10.2196/10641
Wang H, Xu W-m, Zhu K-j, Zhu S-j, H-f Z, Wang J, Yang Y, F-y S, N-m J, Z-y T (2020) Molecular investigation of infection sources and transmission chains of brucellosis in Zhejiang, China. Emerg Microb Infect 9(1):889–899. https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1754137
Zeng H, Wang Y, Sun X, Liu P, Xu Q, Huang D, Gao L, You S, Huang B (2019) Status and influencing factors of farmers’ private investment in the prevention and control of sheep brucellosis in China: a cross-sectional study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 13(3):e0007285. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007285
Zhou K, Wu B, Pan H, Paudyal N, Jiang J, Zhang L, Li Y, Yue MJ (2020) One health approach to address zoonotic brucellosis: a spatiotemporal associations study between animals and humans. Front Vet Sci 7:521. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00521
Acknowledgments
Any institution provides no funding source. We appreciate the support given by our District Veterinary Officers (VOs), local village councils, livestock owners for participating in our survey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics statement
This survey-based study was conducted in a manner consistent with the Animal Welfare Acts. It did not require any ethics committee approval.
Statement of animal rights
This manuscript does not contain any clinical animal trials or the handling of patient data.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hussain, S., Hussain, A., Zia, UuR. et al. Knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with brucellosis among livestock owners and its public health impact in Punjab, Pakistan. Biologia 76, 2921–2929 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-021-00765-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-021-00765-2