Sajjad Rahimi Pordanjani - Ph.D Student of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ali Atamaleki - School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Masoud Amiri - Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences,Yazd, Iran
Hasan Askarpour - Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences,Yazd, Iran

Background and Aim: Brucellosis is one of the most common diseases between humans and livestock, and its occurrence in susceptible areas can be affected by climate variables and geographical location. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and determine the risk factors related to spatial distribution of human brucellosis in Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad provinces.Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study in which 741 patients with brucellosis were entered in the study for 7 years. ArcGIS v.10.2 software was used to create a spatial distribution map. In this software, Kernel and Hotspot tests were used to determine the main sources of disease in the province. The analysis of this study was performed using SPSS v.24 software using Chi-square, independent t-test and Anova with a significance level of p= 0.05.Results: Seasonal pattern of brucellosis was observed in this province with significant increase in spring and summer (P<0.001). The highest incidence rate was found in ranchers (40%) and housewives (33.6%) (P<0.001). From the total patients, 91.1% had a history of contact with the livestock and 91.4% of them had a history of using non-pasteurized dairy products (P<0.001). The Nearest Neighbor data analysis showed that the dispersion of incidence points was not followed normal mode and had clustered dispersion (P<0.001). The highest incidence of the disease (20 per 10000 people) was observed in Kohgiluyeh city which was centered in Dehdasht. Based on the results of Kernel analysis, four density centers of the disease with an incidence rate of more than 0.3 per square kilometer were identified in the province. According to the Hotspot analysis, the central focus was identified as the main center of the disease (P<0.05).Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it can be said that climatic features affect the incidence of brucellosis. Regular and periodic vaccination of livestock is necessary to prevent the incidence of disease and reduce the prevalence in spring and summer in this province

Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad, Brucellosis, Incidence, Spatial Distribution, GIS