Human Brucellosis Incidence Trends in Central Saudi Arabia (Dawadmi Governate)

OBJECTIVE: To determine the human brucellosis incidence rate and trends and its pre-disposing patients’ characteristics (age, gender) over a period of five years (2010- 2014) in Central Saudi Arabia (DawadmiGovernate) METHODS: This is a retrospective study involved the review of 2600 medical records of suspected human brucellosis patients in a Dawadmi General hospital. The inclusion criteria were set based on Wright’s test results and physicians’ diagnosis. Descriptive statistics were utilized to assess incidence trends. RESULTS: A total of 700 positive cases of human brucellosis, comprised of 450 males (64.28%) and 250 females (35.71%) were analyzed based on the SAT titer of >1:160 (Wright test) and clinical impression of the attending physicians, with a male to female ratio of 1.8:1. Almost 50% of the cases were between the ages 13 and 40. Fever, joint pain, headache and weakness were commonly manifested by the patients. The most frequent signs were splenomegaly and hepatomegaly. CONCLUSION: The decreasing incidence trend of human brucellosis in Central Saudi Arabia over the last five years is a good indication that the health authorities and the people at risk in the community have improved their awareness about the disease. Sustained collaborative interventions among the concerned government agencies, health workers, local leaders and farm owners are necessarily recommended to completely eradicate or at least reduce human brucellosis cases in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.