Survey of brucellosis in goats and sheep in the Yemen Arab Republic: comparison of tests for Brucella melitensis infection in sheep.

Sera from 538 Yemeni goats and 690 Yemeni sheep were screened for brucellosis by the Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and reactors confirmed by the complement fixation test (CFT) and the serum agglutination test (SAT). The prevalence among goats was 0.4% and among sheep 0.6%. The prevalence among 183 imported goats and sheep was 4.4%. The sensitivity and specificity of three serological tests available for the diagnosis of brucellosis -CFT, RBPT and SAT - were compared using ovine sera obtained throughout an outbreak of abortion due to Brucella melitensis. The RBPT and the SAT were relatively insensitive compared with the CFT (71 and 44% respectively) and the RBPT was as specific as the SAT when suspicious sera were included. The results suggests that the SAT adds little information when used with other tests and the RBPT has limited applications as a screening test for ovine brucellosis.