بررسي سطح آنتي بادي ضد بروسلا (تست رايت) در كودكان سالم 7 تا 12 سال شهر تهران

Brucella antibody titer (Wrightʹs test) in healthy primary school children in Tehran

Background: Brucellosis is a common worldwide disease of both humans and animals. Iran is one of the endemic areas infected with Brucellosis and a prevalence of 225 in 100,000. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment will save the child from death and disabilities. Considering that Wrightʹs test is easy, feasible and fast to use, it is one of the most common tests used in the diagnosis of Brucellosis. It has a high sensitivity but a low specificity. A titer >1/160 is considered positive. Due to the prevalence of Brucellosis in Iran a titer >1/80 in suspected patients should be a matter of concern and further investigation. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional descriptive analytical study was performed with the aim to determine Brucella antibody level (Wrightʹs test) in healthy primary school children in 19 educational sectors of Tehran. Findings: A total of 1531 children were enrolled, 674(44%) and 857 (56%) of whom were boys and girls with a mean age of 9.17±1.55 years. 99.7% of the children had a titer less than 1/80 and 5 children (0.3%) had a titer >1/160. There was a significant statistical relation between Wrightʹs titer and gender (p=0.005). There was, however, no significant statistical relation to age (p=0.4) or different geographical regions of Tehran (p=0.2). Conclusion: The rate of Brucella infection in school children in Tehran was unremarkable. According to the results of our study, particularly in endemic areas, a Wrightʹs titer of 1:80 in suspected cases for Brucellosis can be taken as a diagnostic titer.