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Objective: Detennination the incidence of Brucella organisms in fresh cheese.
Design: Cross sectional observation.
Procedure: A total 1 000 cheese samples were collected from Sarab and its rural area for a period of one year from September 1999 to
September 2000. All samples were examined by bacteriological and biochemical examination.
Staistical analysis: Use of desecriptive statistic and histogram to indicate the distribution of contamination.
Results: Overall, Brucella organisms were isolated from 22 samples (%2.2) seven of which (%0.7) were Brucella melitensis and the
rest (%1.5) were Brucella abortus. The rates of contamination of cheese samples with Brucella abortus in different seasons autumn, winter, spring and summer were: %1.81, %0.69, %1.87 , %1.74 and for Brucella melitensis were: %0.60, %0.69, %0.62, and %0.87 respectively.
Conclusion: The main sources of human brucellosis for the general population are dairy products prepared from raw or unpasteurized
milk. The milk of infected animals may contain large numbers of organisms which become concentrated in dairy products such as fresh cheese. J. Fac. VeL Med. Univ. Tehran. 58, 3: 203-206, 2003