Emergency response to occupational brucellosis in a pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprise

OBJECTIVES: Human brucellosis, as a zoonosis, is a serious public health problem in many developing countries, including China. To date, there has been no case report on occupational brucellosis and the emergency response in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The aim of this report is to describe an emergency brucellosis outbreak in this unusual setting and the associated treatment methods from an occupational health perspective. METHODS: The emergency response included a field epidemiological investigation, a hierarchy of control strategy, and validation of control measures. RESULTS: Seven workers in the defrosting, grinding, and hydrolysis departments suffered from human brucellosis during two periods. The main symptoms were whole-body joint pain and undulant fever for several weeks, and Brucella-specific serum antibody was found in the patients. A hierarchy of exposure control strategy was implemented, including elimination, engineering control, administrative control, and the use of personal protection equipment. Raw material and environmental monitoring, measurement of placental temperature, Escherichia coli inactivation tests, and health examinations demonstrated that these measures were effective. CONCLUSIONS: This report describes an emergent case and the response to two consecutive outbreaks of occupational brucellosis among workers in a pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprise. The hierarchical control strategy used in this case may prevent new outbreaks, and several lessons can be learned from this event.