Objective To understand the prevalence and awareness of brucellosis in mutton restaurant employees in Sichuan province, evaluate the reliability of brucellosis surveillance in local occupational population, and provide evidence for the prevention and control of brucellosis.
Methods The cross sectional investigation was conducted in the counties or districts where mutton restaurants provide services all the year round in Sichuan in forms of field sampling and questionnaire survey. Venous blood sample was collected from each survey subject for Brucella antibody detection.
Results A total of 362 questionnaires were completed and 362 blood samples were collected from the employees in 145 restaurants in 6 counties or districts of Zigong, Liangshan, Neijiang, Luzhou and Chengdu in Sichuan. Eight positive serum samples with the highest titer of 1:400 were detected in Chengdu, Zigong and Neijiang. The average positive rate was 2.21%. All the sero positive employees had no brucellosis related clinical manifestations. In the awareness survey, 85.64% of the employees had never heard of brucellosis. In terms of protective measures, 46.69% of the employees never wore masks during processing, 55.52% never wear gloves. The risk for brucellosis was higher in those who had worked in mutton restaurants for more than 5 years (χ2=7.29, P<0.05). The awareness rate of brucellosis prevention and control related knowledge was associated with the level of education; The awareness rate of brucellosis was higher in Chengdu than in other areas, the differences in awareness rate were significant among different areas (χ2=51.70, P<0.05).
Conclusion At present, the representativeness of brucellosis surveillance sites in Sichuan is not so good, so the mutton restaurant employees should be included in the surveillance of occupational population. The health education about brucellosis in catering workers needs to be strengthened.
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