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ISDS 2018 Conference Abstracts

Evaluating the burden of brucellosis in hospitalized 
patients in Armenia, 2016
Vigen Asoyan*1, 2, Alvard Hovhannisyan1, 2, Anahit Mkrtchyan1, 2, Mher Davidyants1, 2, 
Hripsime Apresyan1, 2, Lusine Atoyan1, 2 and Lyudmila Niazyan3
1“Nork” Infection Clinical Hospital of MOH, Yerevan, Armenia; 2Yerevan State Medical University, Department of Infectious Diseases, 
Yerevan, Armenia; 3CH2M Hill Armenia branch office, Yerevan, Armenia

Objective
To understand the disease burden, we studied the epidemiological 

and clinical characteristics and associated costs for brucellosis 
patients hospitalized in Nork hospital in 2016.

Introduction
Brucellosis, endemic in Armenia, is recognized as a significant 

public health challenge with a major economic burden. To address 
the regional threat of brucellosis for both animal health and public 
health, the “One Health Surveillance of Brucellosis in Armenia” was 
initiated in December 2016. The project aims to develop scientifically 
sound strategies and policies for sustainable control of the disease.

Methods
In 2016, 265 patients diagnosed with brucellosis were hospitalized 

at “Nork” hospital, of whom 16 were 0-14 years old and 94% were 
males. Diagnosis was confirmed using agglutination test and ELISA. 
The SPSS program was used to analyze the data.

Results
Distribution of the disease by marz revealed that the most cases 

came from Ararat (53), followed by Kotayk (49), Armavir (38), 
Aragatsotn (36), Yerevan (28), Gegharkunik (26), Vayots Dzor (24), 
Syunik (8), and Lori (3). Clinical data indicated that 71% of patients 
had acute brucellosis with fever, arthralgia and night sweating while 
29% suffered chronic brucellosis with damage of organ systems. 
The primary complaints included arthralgia (80%), sweating (60%) 
and fever (40%). Joint pain was mainly located in knee, elbow, and 
sacroiliac regions. Average grade of fever was 37,9±0,95oC. Total 
days spent in hospital were 1798, economic losses for the hospital 
were estimated at AMD 36 million per year.

Conclusions
Those at the highest risk for brucellosis were males living in Ararat 

and Kotayk marzes who work with livestock.

Keywords
brucellosis; Armenia; epidemiology

*Vigen Asoyan
E-mail: ziloras@battelle.org

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 10(1):e118, 2018