Brucellosis is a globally distributed and economically devastating zoonotic disease of multiple species including camels. Human and livestock brucellosis is prevalent in Oman, especially in southern Dhofar governorates of Oman, where camels share habitat and have close contact with other susceptible species. We conducted a randomized cross-sectional sero-epidemiological study to investigate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in the camels of Oman. The sera from 2250 camels from 552 geographically marked farms were screened through Rose Bengal plate agglutination test (RBPT) and later confirmed by the competitive ELISA (COMPLIZA, VLA, UK). In total, 9 (0.4%, CI 0.4, 0.8) camels from 8 (1.5%, CI 0.6, 2.8) herds were tested positive for brucellosis. The highest prevalence was recorded in Dhofar (3.7%, CI 1.4, 7.9) and the lowest in Sharqiyah (1.3%, CI 0.0, 7.2) governorate (p = 0.052). All seropositive camels were of local breed and females. Seroprevalence was higher (0.5%, CI 0.2, 1.0) in adults (> 4 years of age) as compared with young (< 4 years of age) camels (0.2%, CI 0.0, 0.8). The results of binary logistic regression indicated that camel herds located in south (Dhofar) (OR 6.39, CI 1.01, 40.67), practice of open replacement system (OR 14.49, CI 1.83, 114.51) and with history of abortions (OR 8.01, CI 1.34, 47.77) were more likely to test positive for brucellosis. We conclude that brucellosis is endemic at a low level in the camels of Oman and a control strategy based upon test-and-slaughter/inclusion of camels in the current vaccination program after carefully planned vaccine evaluation studies could be considered to control it.
Key words: brucellosis, camels, cELISA, seroepidemiology, risk factors, Oman
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