The importance of brucellosis is that it causes poor reproductive performance, due to abortions, infertility, retention of placenta, stillbirth or birth of weak offspring. It results in huge economic losses to dairy, sheep, goat and pig farmers.
This is a blood test for brucellosis. Brucellosis is an infectious disease usually caused by handling animals or milk products infected with the brucella bacteria. If you have brucellosis, your body will make certain antibodies to fight the brucella bacteria. This test looks for those antibodies in your blood.
Public Health Significance of Brucellosis
Brucella abortus causes serious zoonotic disease and is an invasive Brucella species in humans. Occupational contact is seen in people who have interacted with infected cattle or their tissues. Brucella infection is among the principal easily acquired laboratory infections.
Brucellosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses transmitted by animals and in endemic areas, human brucellosis has serious public health consequences.
It is a contagious, costly disease of ruminant (E.g. cattle, bison and cervids) animals that also affects humans. Although brucellosis can attack other animals, its main threat is to cattle, bison, cervids (E.g. elk and deer), and swine.
How does brucellosis affect humans? People infected with the brucellosis organism usually develop symptoms similar to a severe influenza, but this disease, called undulant fever, persists for several weeks or months and may get progressively worse.
Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that severely hinders livestock productivity and human health worldwide. The burden that the disease places specifically on low-income countries has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify it as one of the world's leading 'neglected zoonotic diseases' [1].
Its propensity for airborne transmission and induction of chronic debilitating disease requiring combined antibiotic regimens for treatment, its abundance around the world and its vague clinical characteristics defying rapid clinical diagnosis are some of the characteristics that apply to the pathogen's weapons ...
*Three types of the bacteria that cause brucellosis – Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis and Brucella suis – are designated as select agents. This means that they have the potential to be developed as bioterrorism agents due to their ability to undergo aerosolization.
The natural invasion of the host by Brucella induces a specific immune response mediated by Th1 lymphocytes that protects against the development of the disease, similar to the one observed in infections caused by other intracellular pathogens as Salmonella and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Animals that are most commonly infected include sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, and dogs, among others. Brucellosis in the U.S.
While brucellosis is rare in the United States, it is more common in other parts of the world, especially: Southern Europe, including Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Southern France. Eastern Europe. Mexico, South and Central America.
Titers higher than 1:160 in conjunction with a compatible clinical presentation are considered highly suggestive of infection. Titers higher than 1:320 are considered to be more specific, especially in endemic areas. Seroconversion and evolution of the titers can also be used for diagnosis.
Culture is the gold standard method for Brucella detection, but the sensitivity of blood culture had a wide range, from 10% to 90% [7]. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the most commonly used molecular method currently.
Bovine brucellosis (B. abortus) was eradicated from the Australian cattle herd in 1989 and is presently considered an exotic animal disease in Australia.
In recent decades, the most effective way to control brucellosis has been to vaccinate animals. Although vaccination of individuals living in brucellosis endemic areas, veterinarians, livestock, and laboratory personnel is essential, human vaccines have not yet been developed (9).
The basic approach has always been to vaccinate calves, test cattle and domestic bison for infection, and send infected animals to slaughter. Depopulation of herds, if funds are available, may be used if herds are severely affected.
Three species (B melitensis, B abortus, B suis)are important human pathogens; B canis is of lesser importance. Species are differentiated by production of urease and H2S, dye sensitivity, cell wall antigens and phage sensitivity. The major species are divided into multiple biovars.
Category B
Brucellosis (Brucella species)
In animals, brucellosis is recognized as a reproductive disease often leading to abortion in the middle to last trimester of gestation (sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, and pigs), following bacterial colonization of the placenta (Table 1).
Females may fail to get pregnant or may lose their litters in late pregnancy (45-55 days). After abortion, females may have a prolonged vaginal discharge. In males, infertility can result from brucellosis affecting various reproductive organs including the prostate, testicles, and epididymis.
In addition, Brucella uses multiple strategies such as cloaking to avoid recognition by the autophagy mechanism and development of replicative niches. Furthermore, inhibition of apoptosis is another strategy of Brucella to evade the immune response to establish chronic infection.
The global burden of human brucellosis remains enormous. The organism causes more than 500,000 infections per year worldwide. The annual number of reported cases in United States (about 100) has dropped significantly because of aggressive animal vaccination programs and milk pasteurization.
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.