TO STUDY THE SEROPREVALENCE OF BRUCELLOSIS IN CASES OF ACUTE UNDIFFERENTIATED FEBRILE ILLNESS AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL, AMRITSAR

Objective: This study sought to determine the seroprevalence of human brucellosis in patients presenting with acute undifferentiated illness at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: The cross-sectional investigation was done on patients presenting to the outpatient or inpatient Department of Medicine at Government Medical College, Amritsar during the study period, regardless of age group, with an acute undifferentiated febrile illness. A 5 mL of whole blood was extracted in a plain vacutainer from suspected patients and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed. Results: Out of 100 samples,11 came out positive by ELISA. Four females and seven males tested positive. Three (27.27%) of the 11 samples had immunoglobulin (Ig)G anti-bodies, whereas 8 (72.72%) samples had IgM anti-bodies. Conclusion: Brucellosis is a serious zoonotic illness with consequences for public health. Efforts should be focused on creating and executing efficient animal vaccination programs, as well as on better diagnostic techniques.