International Journal of Research Studies in Biosciences (IJRSB) Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2016, PP 7-13 ISSN 2349-0357 (Print) & ISSN 2349-0365 (Online) http://dx.doi.org/10.20431/2349-0365.0412002 www.arcjournals.org ©ARC Page | 7 A Review on Epidemiology and Public Health Importance of Brucellosis with Special Reference to Sudd Wetland Region South Sudan Emmanuel P. Lita 1 , Joseph Erume 2 , George W. Nasinyama 2 , Erneo B. Ochi 1 1 College of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CNRES), Department of Animal Production, University of Juba., P. O. Box 82 Juba, South Sudan 2 College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB), Makerere University. P. O. Box 7062, Kampala Uganda emmaous98@yahoo.com Abstract: Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases of public health implications causing socio-economic impacts on the livelihoods of the poor rural pastoralist communities and the urban population worldwide. Bovine brucellosis is one of the top five priority diseases of livestock in South Sudan. This review casts light on some epidemiological parameters and public health importance of brucellosis to enable key stakeholders to understand the magnitude of the disease in South Sudan. Of which over 85% of the population is associated with cattle directly or indirectly for improving their livelihoods and enhancing food and nutrition security. Rural people commonly contract the disease through drinking of raw milk or ingestion of improperly cooked meat from infected cattle or even aborted feti and stillbirths. Cattle are infected through ingestion of contaminated feed or water in the endemic areas. In the Sudd Wetland region of Terekeka County and Jonglei State brucellosis poses threats to socioeconomic development. Biotyping of Brucella species and One Health approach are needed to mitigate prevalence of the disease among the livestock and the rural farming communities in South Sudan. Keywords: Brucellosis; Epidemiology; Cattle; Public Health; Sudd Wetland; South Sudan. 1. INTRODUCTION Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonotic chronic bacterial disease of public health, wildlife and livestock importance (Glynn and Lynn, 2008). The disease is caused by ten species of the Genus: Brucella and distributed worldwide (Corbel et al., 1997).Susceptibility to brucellosis varies among individual animals. It depends on the animals’ natural resistance, age, sex, level of immunity and environmental stress (Ahmed, 2009). Adult animals are highly susceptible to and both sexes become infected with brucellosis (Ibrahim, 1990) and that large herd size and age of cattle had a significant association with brucellosis seropositivity (Mugizi et al., 2015). Apart from humans, cattle, sheep and goats, deers, elks, dogs and pigs (CDC, 2002), brucellosis also affects camels (Teshome et al., 2003; Hegazy et al., 2004). Brucellosis was eradicated in developed countries but its control remains unresolved in most of the developing countries (Abubakar et al., 2012). The public health implications of brucellosis in Terekeka County, Central Equatoria State South Sudan were due to the norms of the rural pastoralist communities in drinking raw milk directly from the cows’ teat. Such socio-cultural complexities are most likely spread in other endemic areas (Lado et al., 2012). Bovine brucellosis causes substantial economic losses in infected cattle population culminating in a lower calving rate and decreased replacement costs as well as reduced value addition of infected cows (Mangen et al., 2002). Although there was inadequate data on livestock-human-disease situation in Sudd Wetland region, bovine brucellosis was one of the most predominant livestock diseases in Jonglei State, South Sudan (McDermott et al., 1987). This is likely attributed to collapse of veterinary and public health services during the devastating civil war (1983-2005) in the Sudan. Pastoralists and farming communities might have perceived little knowledge of infectious diseases and the consequences of infection. Streamlining of such valuable knowledge by strengthening disease information and health education