Background: Brucellosis
is an important zoonosis that constitutes a serious hazard to public health.
Control and eradication programmes have been implemented in many countries
where brucellosis exists. Vaccination is the best method for controlling the
infection and this must be the first step for the elimination of the disease.
In Iran,
Malta fever was first recognized in 1932 and control of animal brucellosis
began in 1949. Our aim was to investigate the effects of animal vaccination in Iran from 1983
to 2008 on the incidence of human brucellosis.
Methods: In this
descriptive study, the relationship between the domestic animals vaccination
with the incidence of human brucellosis was assessed with the SPSS software, which Pearson
correlation coefficient was used for this purpose
Results: Statistical
analysis showed that Pearson correlation coefficient of cattle vaccination and
human brucellosis(r= -0.48), sheep and goat vaccination and human incidence
rate (r=-0.44) are negative (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Animal
vaccination seemed to have decreased the human incidence. The control of
brucellosis can be achieved if the animal population’s resistance to disease
would be increased. It is accepted that vaccination is more acceptable and
effective than other methods applied for this purpose. Combination of health
education and animal vaccination programs for control of human brucellosis are
very important.
