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Article History

Received: 16 January 2018

Accepted: 23 October 2018

First Online: 13 November 2018

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: The study continued the framework of previous studies, including both people and livestock, which obtained formal ethical clearance from the ethical committee of the Mongolian Ministry of Health in 2012. In this study, confidentiality was guaranteed. All information was analyzed using anonymous data sets. All questionnaires and data were stored confidentially. Samples and data were only used for the purpose stated in the information for participants and the project information, where livestock owners also gave written consent to participate. Further ethical considerations were i) Safety was very important and all potential risks were minimized with application of best practices and professional handling; ii) Best practices were applied to assess livestock brucellosis in a herd; iii) Interviews were conducted in a private environment; iv) The sample size was well justified and v) Animal owners with positive serological results in their livestock were contacted on their mobile phone by the study team to report the finding. They were informed that they should protect themselves during obstetric work/slaughtering, boil the milk before consumption and not consume fresh blood or raw livestock products. Also they were advised that all ruminants should be vaccinated and all camels re-tested. They were also advised on how to best prevent potentially infected animals from entering their herds.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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