Brucellosis

Cause: Bacteria in the genus Brucella.

Illness and treatment: Symptoms include fever, profuse sweating, fatigue, loss of appetite, chills, weight loss, headache, and joint pain. Treatment is with antibiotics.

Sources: Infection results from contact through breaks in the skin with animal tissues (particularly placentas or aborted fetuses) and animal fluids, or by consuming unpasteurized dairy products from infected species (mainly cattle, goats, sheep and swine) in endemic countries. Airborne infection can occur in laboratories. Prior to 1996, strains of Brucella used in animal vaccine had a greater risk for causing disease in humans if unintentionally injected.

Prevention: Veterinarians, farmers and hunters should wear gloves when handling sick or dead animals or when assisting an animal giving birth. Laboratory workers should handle all specimens under appropriate biosafety conditions.

Recent Washington trends: Although brucellosis has been eradicated from cattle in the state since 1988, there are 0 to 3 reports of human brucellosis infections each year, primarily due to consumption of raw dairy products in foreign countries.

Purpose of Reporting and Surveillance

To assist in the diagnosis and treatment of cases
To identify potentially exposed health care and laboratory personnel and to provide counseling
To identify sources of transmission (e.g., an infected animal or a contaminated unpasteurized dairy product) and to prevent further transmission from such sources

Legal Reporting Requirements

Health care providers and Health care facilities: Notifiable to local health jurisdiction within 24 hours
Laboratories: Brucella species notifiable to local health jurisdiction within 24 hours; specimen submission required – any positive result excluding IgG notifiable to local health jurisdiction within 24 hours; submission required – isolate, excluding confirmed positive B. melitensis, B. abortus, or B. suis, or if no isolate specimen associated with positive result excluding IgG, within 2 business days (see Sections 3 and 4).
Veterinarians: animal cases notifiable to Washington State Department of Agriculture (see: https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=16-70)
Local health jurisdictions: Notifiable to DOH Communicable Disease Epidemiology (CDE) within 7 days of case investigation completion or summary information required within 21 days.