Rarely, brucellosis can be spread from family pets to people through contact with urine, saliva, and other bodily fluids from an infected dog.
The most common signs we see with human infection include fever, chills, lethargy, headache, weakness, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes. In more severe infections, joints, bones, or heart valves may be affected. Signs may appear anywhere from 3 weeks up to several months after infection.
Brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. People can get the disease when they are in contact with infected animals or animal products contaminated with the bacteria. Animals that are most commonly infected include sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, and dogs, among others.
What are the signs of brucellosis? Male dogs infected with brucellosis develop epididymitis, an infection in part of the testicle. A dog with a newly acquired infection will often have an enlarged scrotum or an enlarged testicle and may have a skin rash on the scrotum. The dog may be infertile.
Brucella canis infects dogs and humans. In dogs, it can cause reproductive failure; in humans, it can cause fever, chills, malaise, peripheral lymphadenomegaly, and splenomegaly.
People with brucellosis may develop fever, sweats, headaches, back pains, and physical weakness. In severe cases, the central nervous system and the lining of the heart may be affected. One form of the illness may also cause long-lasting symptoms, including recurrent fevers, joint pain, and fatigue.
Brucellosis can be diagnosed in a laboratory by finding bacteria in samples of blood, bone marrow or other bodily fluids. Serological tests can also be done to detect antibodies against the bacteria.
This method of transmission primarily affects farmers, butchers, hunters, veterinarians and laboratory personnel. Worldwide, Brucella melitensis is the most prevalent species causing human brucellosis, owing in part to difficulties in immunizing free-ranging goats and sheep. Human-to-human transmission is very rare.
See a GP if you have symptoms of brucellosis and:
you've had unpasteurised milk or dairy products. you've eaten raw or undercooked meat. you work closely with farm animals.
High fever (over 103 degrees Fahrenheit/39.4 degrees Celsius). Severe abdominal (stomach) pain. Confusion or other mental changes.
Brucellosis can affect almost any part of your body, including your reproductive system, liver, heart and central nervous system. Chronic brucellosis may cause complications in just one organ or throughout your body. Possible complications include: Inflammation of the inner lining of the heart chambers (endocarditis).
Death from brucellosis is rare, occurring in no more than 2% of all cases. Generally, the antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin are recommended in combination for a minimum of 6-8 weeks.
Brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by Brucella species. It is known by many other names, including remitting fever, undulant fever, Mediterranean fever, Maltese fever, Gibraltar fever, Crimean fever, goat fever, and Bang disease.
Humane euthanasia of infected dogs is often recommended to prevent the spread of this disease.
no cure for brucellosis in dogs. Even after months of antibiotic treatment, dogs can still remain infected and spread the disease to other dogs and people. all dogs in your kennel for brucellosis. Infected dogs should be removed from your kennel.
This is a serious zoonotic disease causing illness in people. Brucella abortus no longer occurs in Australia as a result of a national eradication program between 1970 and 1989. Brucella ovis infection causes disease and infertility in sheep, but does not affect people.
There is a need to establish facilities for isolation and characterization of Brucella species for effective clinical management of the disease among patients as well as surveillance and control of infection in domestic animals.
Brucellosis can also cause long-lasting or chronic symptoms such as recurrent fevers, joint pain, testicular swelling, heart infections, nervous system impairment, depression, and fatigue. Death from brucellosis is rare.
Antibiotics are effective against Brucella. The antibiotics of choice are doxycycline and rifampin and are used in combination for a number of weeks to prevent recurring infection. Depending on the timing of treatment and severity of illness, recovery may take a few weeks to several months.
Canine brucellosis is a reportable disease in some states but not in all, so true incidence is difficult to determine. It is widely distributed and reports range from 1% to 9% of dogs infected in the United States, with the highest incidence in the South.
The incubation period of brucellosis is usually 2–4 weeks (range 5 days–6 months). Initial clinical presentation is nonspecific and includes arthralgia, fatigue, fever, headache, malaise, myalgia, and night sweats. Focal infections are common and can affect most organs in the body.
Eating undercooked meat or consuming unpasteurized/raw dairy products. The most common way to be infected is by eating or drinking unpasteurized/raw dairy products. When sheep, goats, cows, or camels are infected, their milk becomes contaminated with the bacteria.
An abnormal (positive) result usually means you have come in contact with the bacteria that causes brucellosis. However, this positive result does not mean that you have an active infection. Your provider will have you repeat the test after a few weeks to see if the test result increases.
Doctors usually confirm a diagnosis of brucellosis by testing blood or bone marrow for the brucella bacteria or by testing blood for antibodies to the bacteria.
Brucella melitensis in sheep and goats represents, by far, the most important source of brucellosis in humans. This species of Brucella is not enzootic in the United States, Canada, northern Europe, Australasia or South East Asia.