Signs and symptoms of brucellosis may include fever, joint pain and fatigue. The infection can usually be treated with antibiotics. However, treatment takes several weeks to months, and the infection can recur.
Animals that are most commonly infected include sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, and dogs, among others. Brucellosis in the U.S.
Brucellosis causes reproductive problems (e.g. abortions, stillbirth, infertility) in most species of animals. Other signs can include arthritis in cows and pigs, mastitis and lameness in goats, and oozing skin lesions in horses (“fistulous withers”).
Brucellosis typically begins with a flu-like illness. This may include fever, headache, weakness, drenching sweats, chills, weight loss, joint and muscle pain, and generalised aches. Inflammation of the liver and spleen, and gastrointestinal or respiratory symptoms may also occur.
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).
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.
Some cattle become carriers, shedding the bacteria without showing signs of illness. The most obvious signs in pregnant cattle include abortion, birth of weak calves, and vaginal discharge. Not all infected cows abort, but those that do usually abort between the fifth and seventh month of gestation.
Symptoms and Signs of Brucellosis
Onset may be sudden, with chills and fever, severe headache, joint and low back pain, malaise, and occasionally diarrhea. Or onset may be insidious, with mild prodromal malaise, muscle pain, headache, and pain in the back of the neck, followed by a rise in evening temperature.
Brucellosis affects males and females in equal numbers. The disorder is rare in the United States since pasteurization of milk is routine and cattle are vaccinated against this disease. Fewer than 100 new cases are reported each year in the United States.
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.
Generally, the antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin are recommended in combination for a minimum of 6-8 weeks.
Except for possible cases of transmission after blood transfusion, parenteral drug use and bone marrow transplant (1), brucellosis is still considered not to be transmissible from person to person via close contact (2).
Sexual transmission of brucellosis has rarely been reported in humans. We describe 2 cases of probable sexual transmission of Brucella from husband to wife.
Your healthcare provider will treat brucellosis with a combination of at least two types of antibiotics. You'll need to take them for at least six to eight weeks. Depending on your specific case, you may need other therapies (like draining infected areas or managing complications).
The symptoms usually improve and are completely gone within about two to six months. However, the prognosis is poor in people who develop organ changes or complications such as heart damage, neurological, or genitourinary problems caused by chronic Brucella infection.
In its principal animal hosts, brucellosis causes loss of young through spontaneous abortion or birth of weak offspring, reduced milk production, and infertility.
The disease in cattle, water buffalo, and bison is caused almost exclusively by Brucella abortus; however, B suis occasionally is isolated from seropositive cows but does not appear to cause clinical signs and is not contagious from cow to cow. In some countries, the disease in cattle is caused by B melitensis.
Cows may lick those materials or the genital area of other cows or ingest feed or water contaminated with the disease-causing organisms. Despite occasional exceptions, the general rule is that brucellosis is carried from one herd to another by an infected or exposed animal.
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.
The majority of the patients had a positive titre of Brucella melitensis and abortus. In 42% of the patients radiographs of the thoraco-lumbar spine showed bony changes. This study stresses the importance of brucellosis as a cause of backache.
Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that often leads to joint pain (arthralgia), muscle pain (myalgia), fever, headache, and weakness. The bacterium can live inside animals and can be spread to people.
Brucellosis can also cause long-lasting (chronic) symptoms including fever, chronic tiredness, and swelling in other body parts, such as the joints, testicle and scrotum area, lining of the heart, liver, spleen, brain, or spinal cord. Although rare, death can occur.
Fortunately, death from brucellosis is rare. The mortality rate for brucellosis is as low as 2 percent. Most people with brucellosis are expected to survive the disease, especially if they don't have complications.
Since person-to-person transmission is rare, patients do not have to be held in isolation rooms. Healthcare workers should exercise standard precautions. Laboratory workers should take necessary precautions when working with Brucella species.