Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) says that there are some diseases from animals that can have symptoms similar to those of humans. SUA has come to this conclusion after conducting various studies related to animal diseases.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam recently, SUA Veterinary Officer, Dr Msomi Anthony, said: “These diseases which are a result of those symptoms are brucellosis and tuberculosis (TB) and these diseases can spread by cattle, pigs and sheep,” he said.
Brucellosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses in the world and is endemic in most African countries . The driving factors of the epidemiology of the disease in wildlife, livestock and humans in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) is not well known and the available data are inadequate . In Tanzania, the first outbreak of brucellosis was reported in Arusha in 1927 . Previous surveys in Tanzania have demonstrated the occurrence of the disease in cattle in various production systems, regions and zones with individual animal level seroprevalence.
Brucellosis is a zoonosis of public health importance worldwide. In Tanzania, the disease is underreported due to insufficient awareness, inadequate diagnostic protocols, including lack of appropriate reagents for diagnosis. Livestock and wildlife are considered potential sources of infection to humans; however, the role played by these carriers in the epidemiology of the disease in the ecosystems in Tanzania is not fully understood. The objective of this study was to establish the prevalence of anti-Brucella antibodies in humans, wildlife and livestock; and molecular prevalence of Brucella spp in cattle and goats in the Katavi- Rukwa ecosystem.
In some rural areas of Tanzania however, practitioners give evidence of seeing brucellosis cases with symptoms of long duration. The purpose of this study was to establish health-seeking behaviour of human brucellosis cases in rural Tanzania and explore the most feasible ways to improve .
A longitudinal study was designed. Socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected from patients who reported to selected hospitals in rural northern Tanzania between June 2002 and April 2003. All patients with conditions suspicious of brucellosis on the basis of preliminary clinical examination and history were enrolled into the study as brucellosis suspects. Blood samples were taken and tested for brucellosis using the Rose-Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and other agglutination tests available at the health facilities and the competitive ELISA (c-ELISA) test at the Veterinary Laboratory Agencies (VLA) in the UK. All suspects who tested positive with the c-ELISA test were regarded as brucellosis cases. A follow-up of 49 cases was made to collect data on health-seeking behaviour of human brucellosis cases
According to the result ,the majority of cases 87.7% gave a history of going to hospital as the first point of care, 10.2% purchased drugs from a nearby drug shop before going to hospital and 2% went to a local traditional healer first. Brucellosis cases delayed going to hospital with a median delay time of 90 days, and with 20% of the cases presenting to hospitals more than a year after the onset of symptoms. Distance to the hospital, keeping animals and knowledge of brucellosis were significantly associated with patient delay to present to hospital.
