Brucellosis

Etiology
Brucella:
= Melitensis (Sheep,Goat)
(most common)
= Abortus (Cattle)
= Suis (Swin)
=Canis (Dog)

G- Coccobacil
Aerobic, Non-spore forming
Non motile
 Epidemiology
1) Conjunctiva or broken skin contacting
infected tissues:
Blood, urine, vaginal discharges, aborted
fetuses, placentas
2) Ingestion:
Raw milk & unpasteurized dairy products
Rarely through undercooked meat
3) Inhalation of infectious aerosols:
4) Inoculation with vaccines
5) Person-to-person (sexual,
congenital, breast-feeding) is rare
Incubation varies
7-21 days to several months
 Pathogenesis

Risk of infection depends

1. Nutritional status
2. Immune status
3. Rout of inoculum
4. Species of brucella
Survive& Replicate within phagocytes&Monocytes
Infected macrophages localized within
reticuloendothelial system(Granuloma formation in
spleen,liver,bone marrow)
 Clinical manifestation
Triad: Fever, Arthralgia/Arthritis,Hepatosplenomegaly

+ History of animal or food

exposure
Acute or insidious Abdominal pain
symptoms(2-4 wk after Headache
inoculation) Diarrhea
Refusal to eat Rash
Refusal to bear weight Night sweets
Headache Weakness
Depression Fatigue
Lassitude Cough
Vomiting
Pharyngitis
 Diagnosis in Humans

Culture of:
Blood, bone marrow,
CSF, urine

Serum agglutination test

Agglutination test
anytestbasedonanagglutination
reaction,asserologictestsforspec
.ificantibodies
Theclumpingtogetherinsuspensionofantigen-
bearingcells,microorganisms,orparticlesinthepre
senceofspecific antibodies
LIMITATIONS OF PROCEDURE
False negative results can be
obtained in early disease,
immune-unresponsiveness,
prozone (Brucelosis), and False
antibiotic treatment. (somatic).
Serological cross-reactions with negative
Brucella have been reported in Prozen effect
cases of infection or vaccination
with some strains of Vibrio
cholerae, Pasteurella, Proteus
OX19 and Y. enterocolitica
(serotype 9).
A great number of false positive
reactions have been reported in
healthy individuals with Proteus
antigens, especially in slide
agglutination test. A titer of less
than 1/160 should not be
quantitative test
atestthatdeterminestheamountofasubstanceperunitvolum
eorunitweight

A semi-quantitative test is one that doesn't give the

absolute amount of analytes in a sample. It only gives the
amount of analytes relative to the others.
- For example it will tell that there is 3 times as much A than B
in a sample but it won't tell how much of either is in the
sample.

Qualitative test
The process of determining whether or not a particular
substance is present in a sample.