Border Collie Rescue - On Line - Brucellosis
Health Issues - Canine Brucellosis
Overview
Brucellosis is one of the few venereal diseases among dogs.
It is associated with testicular atrophy and causes sterilisation (sometime obvious, sometimes not) in the male and embryonic re-absorption, abortion, weak pups that die soon after birth and eventual sterility in females.
Males are contagious for months through their semen, females are contagious for several weeks after the failed pregnancy.
Brucellosis may be passed to humans and can cause suppressed immune systems and sterility.
However, brucellosis in this form cannot be passed back to animals or other humans, as this disease is not adapted to humans as hosts.
Diagnosis can be quickly made, although animals tested less than three weeks after exposure will show negative.
False positives are possible; follow up diagnosis with more reliable methods should follow any initial positives.
Treatment for brucellosis was not generally very successful in the early days and often very expensive.
Extensive antibiotic therapy, evaluation and additional testing added up quickly, with no guarantee of success.
No vaccine was, or is, available.
Modern veterinary medicine has greater success in treating infected dogs.
Surgical intervention with antibiotic treatment is most effective. Any animal with brucellosis should not be bred from and should be removed from the kennel and isolated from contact with other breeding stock before infecting the entire colony.
It is associated with testicular atrophy and causes sterilisation (sometime obvious, sometimes not) in the male and embryonic re-absorption, abortion, weak pups that die soon after birth and eventual sterility in females.
Males are contagious for months through their semen, females are contagious for several weeks after the failed pregnancy.
Brucellosis may be passed to humans and can cause suppressed immune systems and sterility.
However, brucellosis in this form cannot be passed back to animals or other humans, as this disease is not adapted to humans as hosts.
Diagnosis can be quickly made, although animals tested less than three weeks after exposure will show negative.
False positives are possible; follow up diagnosis with more reliable methods should follow any initial positives.
Treatment for brucellosis was not generally very successful in the early days and often very expensive.
Extensive antibiotic therapy, evaluation and additional testing added up quickly, with no guarantee of success.
No vaccine was, or is, available.
Modern veterinary medicine has greater success in treating infected dogs.
Surgical intervention with antibiotic treatment is most effective. Any animal with brucellosis should not be bred from and should be removed from the kennel and isolated from contact with other breeding stock before infecting the entire colony.
Dealing with infections in Kennel situation
If there are more than one dog, test all dogs present - separate positive and negative dogs.
With positive dogs, isolate individual dogs and treat with antibiotics and spay or castrate. Negative dogs should be isolated where possible and treated with antibiotics as a precaution if it is the intention that they may be bred from once guaranteed cleared of infection.
If there is no intention to include them in future breeding programs, spay or castrate.
Re-test after 4 weeks.
Negative dogs that were negative in previous tests should be retested monthly until clear on two successive tests.
Positive dogs that were negative in previous tests should be spayed or castrated (if this has not already been done) and treated with antibiotics.
Test monthly for 3 months until each individual is negative on two successive tests following spaying, castrating and treatment procedures on any that test positive.
Follow-up serology for 3 months post-treatment.
Isolation is important to prevent positive dogs infecting negative dogs. Strict hygiene/disinfection procedures should be followed using a broad spectrum disinfectant like Zircon S at appropriate strengths with particular attention to the handling and disposal of soiled material from the accommodation units.
Protective suits, masks and gloves are advised. Good diet and a stress free environment will greatly aid recovery of infected dogs.
It is difficult to deal with this infection in a domestic home and the risk of the disease being passed to humans is higher than if a dog was kept in a kennel environment. Sterilisation of equipment and disinfection regimes are difficult to follow.
The best advice would be to isolate an infected dog in an outside kennel and run or outbuilding or garage until the infection has been dealt with.
Humans are susceptible to B. canis, but infections are uncommon and they are usually mild.
Approximately 40 cases of human infection have been reported in several countries, however the actual number is unknown since cases are rarely diagnosed, or reported.
Symptoms are usually vague - prolonged febrile illness with lymph node enlargement.
Most natural infections have been acquired through close contact with infected dogs. Laboratory infections also have been reported.
Unlike the dog, infected humans usually respond rapidly to antibiotics (tetracycline's or tetracycline's + streptomycin).
With positive dogs, isolate individual dogs and treat with antibiotics and spay or castrate. Negative dogs should be isolated where possible and treated with antibiotics as a precaution if it is the intention that they may be bred from once guaranteed cleared of infection.
If there is no intention to include them in future breeding programs, spay or castrate.
Re-test after 4 weeks.
Negative dogs that were negative in previous tests should be retested monthly until clear on two successive tests.
Positive dogs that were negative in previous tests should be spayed or castrated (if this has not already been done) and treated with antibiotics.
Test monthly for 3 months until each individual is negative on two successive tests following spaying, castrating and treatment procedures on any that test positive.
Follow-up serology for 3 months post-treatment.
Isolation is important to prevent positive dogs infecting negative dogs. Strict hygiene/disinfection procedures should be followed using a broad spectrum disinfectant like Zircon S at appropriate strengths with particular attention to the handling and disposal of soiled material from the accommodation units.
Protective suits, masks and gloves are advised. Good diet and a stress free environment will greatly aid recovery of infected dogs.
It is difficult to deal with this infection in a domestic home and the risk of the disease being passed to humans is higher than if a dog was kept in a kennel environment. Sterilisation of equipment and disinfection regimes are difficult to follow.
The best advice would be to isolate an infected dog in an outside kennel and run or outbuilding or garage until the infection has been dealt with.
Humans are susceptible to B. canis, but infections are uncommon and they are usually mild.
Approximately 40 cases of human infection have been reported in several countries, however the actual number is unknown since cases are rarely diagnosed, or reported.
Symptoms are usually vague - prolonged febrile illness with lymph node enlargement.
Most natural infections have been acquired through close contact with infected dogs. Laboratory infections also have been reported.
Unlike the dog, infected humans usually respond rapidly to antibiotics (tetracycline's or tetracycline's + streptomycin).
For more information - Canine Brucellosis Caused by Brucella Canis
Paper by - S. J. Shin and L. Carmichael - 1999
Diagnostic Laboratory and Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
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