One goal of the Biological Threat Reduction Program of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency is the enhancement of surveillance of especially dangerous pathogens of both humans and animals within countries of the former Soviet Union. One of the diseases of interest to the program is brucellosis, which is a life-threatening condition and constitutes a major health and economic challenge around the world. This is also true for Uzbekistan (UZ), where brucellosis is endemic in a number of regions. In the Samarqand region of UZ, for example, studies have reported a 9.3%, and 3.6% seroprevalence for humans and farm animals respectively.The lack of awareness about brucellosis in at-risk populations, shepherds, veterinarians and people who handle raw milk, is believed to significantly contribute to the spread of disease from animals to humans. Here we suggest mechanisms to evaluate awareness about the disease and the impact of an educational intervention in at-risk groups.
Objective
To outline the mechanism of a pilot educational brucellosis prevention program among selected high- risk groups in an endemic region of Uzbekistan.