SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research Veterinary Medicine International Volume 2011, Article ID 358950, 3 pages doi:10.4061/2011/358950 Research Article Prevalence of Bovine Brucellosis in Organized Dairy Farms, Using Milk ELISA, in Quetta City, Balochistan, Pakistan Muhammad Shafee,1 Masood Rabbani,2 Ali Ahmad Sheikh,2 Mansoor din Ahmad,3 and Abdul Razzaq4 1 University of Balochistan, Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan 2 University Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan 3 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan 4 Arid Zone Research Centre, Brewery Road, Quetta, Pakistan Correspondence should be addressed to Muhammad Shafee, shafeegl@yahoo.com Received 22 September 2010; Accepted 3 January 2011 Academic Editor: F. Mancianti Copyright © 2011 Muhammad Shafee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A total of 200 milk samples from cattle (n = 86) and buﬀalo (n = 114) were evaluated using milk ring test (MRT) and indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (i-ELISA). The overall prevalence was found to be 3% and 8.5% in cattle and buﬀaloes using MRT and i-ELISA, respectively. The prevalence was 4.6% and 1.7% in cattle and buﬀalo using MRT, respectively, while i- ELISA exhibited 20% and 0% in cattle and buﬀalo, respectively. The prevalence was higher in government dairy farm, compared to privately owned dairy farm. This paper points out an alarming situation in the target area with respect to the public health signiﬁcance. 1. Introduction The livestock sector has emerged as a leading subsector of the agriculture over the years in Pakistan. Livestock production is one of the major activities, as about 30–35 million people of rural areas of Pakistan are engaged in raising livestock and deriving 30–40 percent of their income. It accounts for 53.2% of the agriculture value added and 11.4% of the national GDP [1]. Brucellosis is a highly contagious, zoonotic, and econom- ically important bacterial disease of animals worldwide [2]. It causes signiﬁcant economic losses including abortion, loss in milk production, low fertility rates, and cost of replacement of animals [3]. It is the second most important zoonotic disease in the world after rabies [4]. The importance of this highly contagious disease is due to its severe hazards to human health, through either direct contact with infected animals or through consumption of contaminated milk and dairy products, and its economic impact on the animal industry, causing an adverse eﬀect on animal health. It is a signiﬁcant public health problem in an agricultural country like Pakistan, where the vast majority of the population is involved in land cultivation and livestock farming. The incidence of brucellosis in Pakistan is increasing particularly in large dairy herds. Earlier studies indicated lower prevalence, that is, 0.33% to 0.65% [5]. Whereas much higher prevalence is reported in some recent studies, that is, 21% to 26% [6]. The incidence is higher in animals kept at organized farms rather than small holdings [7]. It is a global problem of wild and domestic animals, especially cattle, sheep, and goats causing a decrease in reproductive eﬃcacy and an increase in abortion rate [8]. It has also been reported in most of the developing countries, like Nigeria, where it prevails up to 13.5% indicating higher threat to human and animal health [9]. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of this infectious zoonotic disease in the target area and to create awareness among the inhabitants of the area.