Risk factors for zoonoses in veterinary clinicians

Abstract

Abstract: 

Veterinarians are at high risk for zoonoses. Although the study of these occupational diseases is included in the veterinary curriculum, there are no continuing education programs at the provincial level to prevent these diseases. The objective of this study was to estimate frequencies of zoonoses and the associated factors in veterinarians from Tucumán, Argentina. Previous to Covid19 pandemic a cross-sectional study was carried out using a structured questionnaire, surveying 210 professionals chosen at random. The risk factors analyzed were years of professional practice, gender, type of practice, hours worked/ day and minimum number of patients attended/ day. Continuous variables were transformed into dichotomous variables using medians as the cut-off point. The statistical analysis was carried out in two stages, taking the presence of at least one post-graduation zoonosis as the dependent variable. After screening with χ2, the variables with P˂0.05 were offered to a logistic regression model. Forty three percent of respondents had been diagnosed with at least one zoonosis (dermatophytosis 29.0%; scabies 19.5%; flea infestation 10.0%; brucellosis 3.3%; giardiasis 3.3%; toxoplasmosis 1.9%; psittacosis 1.4%; tuberculosis 1.0%). Seven percent of those who became ill suffered days off-work (3-15 days). Those who only worked with small animals and women had respectively 4.0 (95%CI 1.1-14.6; P= 0.033) and 2.3 (95%CI 1.16-4.45; P=0.017) times more risk of suffering from dermatophytosis than those who worked in large animal practice. The older the professional, the greater the risk of this parasitosis (OR= 2.7; 95%CI 1.4-5.3; P= 0.003). Respondents working in small animal practice and had a more years of exposure had respectively 4.9 (95%CI 1.1-22.1; P= 0.037) and 3.2 (95%CI 1.5-6.8; P= 0.003) times higher risk of scabies. There were no factors associated with flea infestation, while all brucellosis cases affected large animal veterinarians with more years of professional practice. The frequencies of skin affections were higher than those published in previous studies in Argentina, while the frequency of brucellosis was lower. Geographical variations can be related to the prevalence of each zoonosis in the animal population, type of professional practice, type of livestock farming and degree of adoption of preventive practices. In this study, the type of professional practice and the number of years of exposure were important risk factors for zoonoses.