study of human brucellosis among pregnant women in Kafr El Dawar, Beheira, Egypt

ABSTRACT

To determine the relationship between brucellosis and abortion in pregnant women and to identify the factors associated with its occurrence, this case-control study was conducted among 400 pregnant women. They were divided into 200 cases who presented with spontaneous first trimester abortion and 200 controls who delivered full term babies. Moreover, Brucella antibody positive sera were tested for the presence of Toxoplasma and Rubella infections using IgM ELISA technique. The results revealed the presence of Brucella antibodies in 83 [20.7%] out of the 400 studied pregnant women. Brucella seropositivity was significantly higher in the aborted group [25.6%] than in the controls [14.1%]. Most of the aborted Brucella positive women had chronic infection [titer <1 160] and gave positive history of previous abortions [92% and 80%, respectively]. Among full term delivered women, no significant association was revealed concerning the effect of Brucella infection on babies condition