An overview of Animal and Human Brucellosis in Nigeria

Brucellosis is a bacterial disease in humans and animals caused by a group of organisms in the genus Brucella. It is highly contagious and one of the most important zoonosis in the world. The disease remains endemic in Nigeria and its actual incidence and prevalence are unknown due to poor surveillance and inadequate disease reporting system. A comprehensive review of the literature published online was carried out on manuscripts published as far back as 1976 to 2021, A computerized search of existing literature was conducted using the Google search engine,  PubMed electronic database and Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux (CAB) abstracts to identify and review relevant publications on brucellosis in animals and humans in Nigeria using the following search terms: brucellosis, malta fever, undulant fever, febrile fever, Gibraltar fever, gastric fever, remittent fever, Mediterranean fever, bangs disease and contagious bovine/ovine abortion. Our review showed that brucellosis is widely distributed in Nigeria amongst human and animal hosts. Undulant fever is the most commonly reported syndrome in humans, while abortion is the most prevalent symptom documented in animals. Serological techniques like rose-Bengal/card test (RBT), standard agglutination tests (SAT), complement fixation test (CFT), indirect enzyme immunoassays (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are often used to determine the prevalence of brucellosis in human and animal hosts. Losses enumerated in the literature include those due to abortions, diminished milk production and contamination of milk, mastitis, animal culls and condemnation of infected animals due to breeding failure and inability to participate in the international animal export trade. In humans, brucellosis reduced work capacity through the sickness of the affected people and can be acquired from animals. There is need for a drastic public health interventions and control measures on brucellosis in the livestock industry in Nigeria.