Monitoring of Brucellosis in Agricultural Animals in Ukraine During 2013-2015
Authors: Nevolko Olga 
Published: May 2017

ObjectiveAnalysis of brucellosis monitoring in agricultural animals inUkraine to control epizootic situation and prevent possible brucellosisin humans.IntroductionBrucellosis is one of the most widespread zoonosis in the world.Only 17 countries informed WHO that their territory is free frombrucellosis. About 500 thousand cases of brucellosis in humansare registered in the world each year. The problem of brucellosishas remained actual to agriculture and health care for many years.Almost all agricultural animals are highly susceptible to brucellosis.Socio-economic significance of brucellosis problem is determined bypeculiarities of the course of the disease and the main contingent thatcan be infected, namely the working population that is connected withboth professional factors and social reasons. Brucellosis is a chronicinfectious disease. The disease in animals has the following signs:abortions and retention of secundines, orchitis, unviable litter andsterility. Brucellosis is included to the list of quarantine diseases dueto its social threat.MethodsStudies of blood sera of cattle, small ruminants, horses and pigsfrom different Ukrainian regions that were selected during the annualspring clinical examination in 2013-2015. The following serologicalmethods were used for the studies: complement-fixation test (CFT),agglutination reaction (AR), Rose Bengal test (RBT), prolongedcomplement fixation test (PCFT).ResultsCurrently, Ukraine is free from brucellosis of animals. The lastbrucellosis case in pigs was registered in 2008 in Odesa Oblast.The last case of brucellosis in cattle in Ukraine was registered in 1992.According to the Ministry of Health, a case of brucellosis inhumans is registered in Ukraine almost every year.Annual serological brucellosis studies of servicing bulls, cows,heifers older than one year, horses, stud rams, ewes, boars and sowsare held once a year in Ukraine.During 2013-2015, the monitoring serological brucellosis studies ofblood sera from cattle, small ruminants, horses and pigs from differentfarms in 25 oblasts of Ukraine were conducted at State Laboratoriesof Veterinary Medicine and State Scientific and Research Institute ofLaboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise.Table 1. Serological research resultsIn 2013, seropositive results were obtained in AR Crimea – sixcases in cattle, Dnipropetrovsk oblast - 12, Kyiv oblast – 31, Sumyoblast – 118, and Luhansk oblast – 25 using AR and RBT techniques.In small ruminants, seropositive results were determined in Luhanskoblast – 26 animals (AR). Testing pigs by RBT showed the followingpositive results: 82 animals in Dnipropetrovsk oblast, 16 in Luhansk,and 1 in Sumy oblast. Twenty seven horses were detected positive byRBT in Luhansk oblast.Fig. 1. Brucellosis monitoring results, 2013In 2014, seropositive results in cattle were received in Kyiv (20),Dnipropetrovsk (28), Sumy (66), Chernihiv (37) and Zhytomyr (2)oblasts using AR, RBT, and CFT. AR tests were positive for onesmall ruminant in Dnipropetrovsk and for three in Sumy oblasts. Fiveseropositive pigs were found in Sumy oblast using RBT.Fig. 2. Brucellosis monitoring results, 2014In 2015, seropositive results (AR, RBT, and CFT) in cattle wereobtained in Sumy (8 animals), Dnipropetrovsk (34), and Chernihiv(10) oblasts. For small ruminants, one seropositive animal was foundin Dnipropetrovsk and three in Sumy oblasts using AR. EmployingRBT, one pig was diagnosed in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. Two horseswere found positive using RBT and AR in Sumy oblast.Fig. 3. Brucellosis monitoring results, 2015The seropositive animals were destroyed. Bacteriological studieswere not conducted.Conclusions1. During the studies of blood sera of agricultural animals fromdifferent Ukrainian regions, positive results were obtained in 7 oblastsof Ukraine indicating a possible circulation of the causative agent ofbrucellosis.2. Studies need the in-depth analysis that must includebacteriological testing of seropositive animals.