Brucellosis in nomadic pastoralists and their goats in two provinces of the eastern Algerian high plateaus.

A 31-months study was conducted to elucidate the prevalence of brucellosis in nomadic pastoralists and their goats in two provinces of the eastern Algerian high plateaus. Five hundred eight human and 4955 animal sera were screened with the Rose Bengal plate test and the complement fixation test for confirmation. Uterine fluids from aborting goats were subjected to microbiological analyses to determine the biovars responsible for abortions. The overall seroprevalence was 0.98% among animals and 15.84% among herds. A significant correlation was recorded between occurrence of brucellosis and herd size (r = 0.4046, P < 0.0001) as well as age (χ(2)  = 5.809, P = 0.0159) and sex of animals (χ(2)  = 20.09, P < 0.0001); 89.65% of human cases were related to positive herds and the infection rate was higher in men (7.6%) than in women (6%) and children (0.92%). Brucella melitensis biovar 3 was the only aetiology of brucellosis-associated abortion in goats of the studied region.