International Journal of Health Studies2423-65943020170101Brucella Antibody Levels in Preschool Children in the North East of Iran16916910.22100/ijhs.v3i0.169ENEhsanNezakati 11. Dept. of Infection, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran.. e_nezakati@yahoo.comMaryamYarmohammadi 2PounehZolfaghari 3Mohammad BagherSohrabi 4*JavadKhaje Mozaffari 5SeddigheMadani 6FatemehNajafi 3FatemehKhodaei 4201610182017022520170210Background: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of humans and animalsthat has affected worldwide. Iran is one of the endemic areas infectedwith brucellosis. Early diagnosis of this disease may protect theaffected children from disabilities and mortalities. This study aimed toevaluate the Brucella antibody levels in preschool children of theShahroud city in Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated 850 participants, inparticular, school children from the Shahroud city. Generalinformation was collected by interviewing the children’s parents.Moreover, a 5 ml of blood sample was collected from all the children.The samples were studies using standard tube agglutination test(Wright) and 2-Mercaptoethanol. Thereafter, IgG and IgM levels weredetermined by the ELISA method.Results: A total of 850 children were enrolled, of which 51.2% wereboys and 48.8% were girls, with a mean age of 5.17±1.55 years. Of theall children evaluated, 839 (97.5%) children had a titer <1/80 and 21children (2.5%) had a titer ≥1/80. A significant difference wasobserved between the antibody titers in terms of gender (P=0.012),whereas no significant association was found among antibody titerswith other variables such as age, history of nonpasteurized foods,exposure to animals, history of brucellosis disease, and parentaloccupation.Conclusions: The antibody titer for suspected brucellosis in preschoolchildren of Shahroud was very low. According to the results of ourstudy, in particular, in the endemic areas, a Wright’s titer of 1/80 insuspected cases for brucellosis can be considered as a diagnostic titer.