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Pelerito A, Cordeiro R, Matos R, Santos MA, Soeiro S, Santos J, Manita C, Rio C, Santo M, Paixão E, Nunes A, Núncio S. Human brucellosis in Portugal-Retrospective analysis of suspected clinical cases of infection from 2009 to 2016. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0179667. [PMID: 28692674 PMCID: PMC5503191 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2017] [Accepted: 06/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Brucellosis is a zoonosis that is emerging in some regions of the world. Although brucellosis is a disease of obligatory declaration and is not eradicated in Portugal, no prevalence data is available in this country. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the data available at the Reference Laboratory at the Portuguese National Institute of Health during the past 7 years (2009–2016) in order to get insight into the epidemiological scenario of brucellosis in Portugal. A total of 2313 biological samples from patients with clinical suspicion of brucellosis were subjected to immunological techniques for laboratory diagnosis. From 2010 to 2015, a subset of 259 samples was subjected to molecular methods. According to the available data, 167 out of 2313 (7.2%) samples had positive serology for Brucella spp. and 43 out of 259 samples (16.6%) were positive for B. melitensis by real time PCR, being classified as biovar 1 and 3. This study draws attention to the importance of integrating clinical and laboratory data of human cases in order to increase the efficacy of the response measures in case of outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Pelerito
- Emergency Response and Biopreparedness Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
- * E-mail:
| | - Rita Cordeiro
- Emergency Response and Biopreparedness Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Rita Matos
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Maria Augusta Santos
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal
| | - Sofia Soeiro
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal
| | - João Santos
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Carla Manita
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Carla Rio
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal
| | - M. Santo
- Immunology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal
| | - Eleonora Paixão
- Alentejo Regional Administration of Health, Nucleus of Support in the area of Statistics, Portugal
| | - Alexandra Nunes
- Bioinformatics Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Sofia Núncio
- Emergency Response and Biopreparedness Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal
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