Brucellosis is one of the most important diseases shared between humans and livestock, and prevention of Brucellosis in humans is only possible by controlling it in livestock. Brucellosis is also known by other names such as “wavy fever”, “mad fever” or “Mediterranean fever”.
Time of outbreak:
This disease occurs in all seasons of the year, but it is more common in spring and autumn, which is the season of birth and lactation of livestock.
Disease agent:
The causative agent of this disease is a bacterium called brucellosis, which is a gram-negative, aerobic bacterium and can be transmitted to humans through direct contact with livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, deer or infected animal tissues such as blood, uterine secretions, aborted fetuses, consumption of raw milk and contaminated dairy products, especially cheese, cream, butter, colostrum, contact with contaminated syringes and inhalation of air from contaminated pens and stables.
Clinical symptoms of brucellosis:
The symptoms caused in people are divided into three categories: acute, subacute and chronic. In the acute type, the patient has general body pain, especially back pain. He also has fever, chills and severe sweating, and feels general weakness due to loss of appetite. With these symptoms, no more than 3 months have passed since the onset of the disease. In the subacute type, this disease begins without any specific symptoms, the patient only suffers from weakness and fatigue, which means that 3 months to 1 year have passed since the onset of the disease. In chronic brucellosis, symptoms include fever, night sweats, muscle pain and loss of appetite.
This disease causes testicular swelling in male cattle, blood in the animal’s vaginal discharge, abortion, stillbirth, failure to expel the placenta and infertility in female cattle.
Brucellosis usually causes abortion in the first trimester (5 to 6 months) and during abortion, it also contaminates the environment for some time after that by excreting highly contaminated uterine secretions, which in turn causes infection of other livestock in the herd and humans.
Also, periodic excretion of brucellosis bacteria through animal milk and also through uterine secretions in animals without clinical symptoms causes many problems for other livestock and humans.
Brucellosis is not usually transmitted from person to person, but sometimes women have transmitted the infection to their infants during childbirth or through breastfeeding. The disease is rarely spread through sexual activity or infected blood transfusion.
Disease prevalence:
Brucellosis is more prevalent in Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe than in other places in the world.
Diagnosis methods:
The diagnosis methods of brucellosis are using serological tests (Wright test, 2ME Wright test) and molecular PCR tests.
Duration of treatment:
The duration of treatment for brucellosis varies from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the type and severity of the disease. In some patients who are treated; probably due to the intracellular state of the bacteria and its resistance to antibiotics, the disease usually recurs after a few months after the initial infection, which can temporarily recur even up to two years after treatment.
Complications of brucellosis:
Complications caused by brucellosis can occur in only one organ or throughout the body, including endocarditis, arthritis, inflammation and infection of the testicles, inflammation of the liver and spleen, and infection of the central nervous system.
Prevention methods:
In addition to vaccination, hygiene, disinfection of places, especially birthing places, quarantining infected animals, burning aborted fetuses, conducting necessary tests to identify infected animals before slaughter are other necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
Treatment methods:
The best way to combat the disease of Malta fever in herds is to vaccinate the herd because this disease is very dangerous and spreads quickly in the herd. Vaccination can be done all year round and one vaccination is sufficient throughout the life. The amount of vaccine required for the animal is 5 cc and for female cows it should be done before reaching sexual maturity, i.e. 3 to 6 months of age.
Work from the scientific and technical department of Tek Nam Pendar Aria Company, September 2019
