Brucellosis is a bacterial disease caused by Brucella abortus. Infection in pregnant cattle causes abortion or premature calving, with large amounts of bacteria present in the foetus, placenta and uterine fluid. This makes this material extremely infectious to other cattle and also to humans handling it such as farmers and vets. Bacteria are also present in the milk of infected cows and in the days before pasteurisation, when brucellosis was endemic in the UK, it was not uncommon for people to become infected with 'undulant fever'. The bacteria can also be carried in the semen of bulls, which in the past proved a very efficient method of spreading the disease from farm to farm.

Brucellosis is a notifiable disease in Great Britain and until early 2004 had not been seen in England since 1993. In Scotland cases were discovered in 2003 in cattle imported from Ireland - Scotland having been previously clear of the disease since the 1970's. All cases and contacts of infected cattle are compulsorily slaughtered.

Since brucellosis is still present in many countries in the European Union (including Ireland), a programme of veterinary surveillance is in place with testing of all imported cattle, monthly testing of dairy herds through bulk milk samples and biennial testing of beef breeding herds through blood tests. In addition farmers are under obligation to notify DEFRA of all abortions and premature calvings occurring on their farm for further investigations to be done.

User comments - post a comment