Zoonotic transmission of brucellosis often results from exposure to Brucella-infected livestock, feral animals, or wildlife or frequently via consumption of unpasteurized milk products or raw meat. Since natural infection of humans often occurs by the oral route, mucosal vaccination may offer a means to confer protection for both mucosal and systemic tissues. Significant efforts have focused on...

Sequencing of bp26, the gene encoding the Brucella sp. immunogenic BP26 periplasmic protein, was performed in the reference strains of Brucella abortus, B. suis, and B. ovis. The three bp26 sequences were almost identical to that published for B. melitensis 16M bp26, and only minor nucleotide substitutions, without modifying the amino acid sequence, were observed between species. The bp26 genes...

Brucellosis is a common livestock disease in the Middle East and North Africa, but remains poorly described in the region both genetically and epidemiologically. Traditionally found in goats and sheep, Brucella melitensis is increasingly recognized as infecting camels. Most studies of brucellosis in camels to date have focused on serological surveys, providing only limited understanding of the ...

The dnaK gene and surrounding sequences from reference strains of the six Brucella species were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers chosen according to the published sequence of the B. ovis dnaK gene and studied for polymorphism with nine restriction endonucleases. The restriction patterns were identical for all species with all restriction endonucleases tested except ...

This study develops an original co-infection model in mice using Brucella melitensis, the most frequent cause of human brucellosis, and Trypanosoma brucei, the agent of African trypanosomiasis. Although the immunosuppressive effects of T. brucei in natural hosts and mice models are well established, we observed that the injection of T. brucei in mice chronically infected with B. melitensis indu...

Brucellosis is a debilitating zoonotic disease that affects humans and animals. The diagnosis of brucellosis is challenging, as accurate species level identification is not possible with any of the currently available serology-based diagnostic methods. The present study aimed at identifying Brucella (B.) species-specific proteins from the closely related species B. abortus and B. melitensis usi...

A bacterioferritin (BFR) deletion mutant of Brucella melitensis 16M was generated by gene replacement. The deletion was complemented with a broad-host-range vector carrying the wild-type bfr gene, pBBR-bfr. The survival and growth of the mutant, B. melitensis PAD 2-78, were similar to those of its parental strain in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). These results suggest that BFR is not...

Brucella melitensis is an important zoonotic pathogen that causes brucellosis, a disease that affects sheep, cattle and occasionally humans. B. melitensis strain M5-90, a live attenuated vaccine cultured from B. melitensis strain M28, has been used as an effective tool in the control of brucellosis in goats and sheep in China. However, the molecular changes leading to attenuated virulence and p...

Medium constituents affect the inhibitory action of anti-Brucella melitensis serum during in vitro infection of oil-induced peritoneal macrophages of the guinea pig with B. melitensis.

The conclusions to be drawn from this study are that while there appears to be evidence of serological distinctions between B. abortus and B. melitensis cultures as studied by earlier workers, the experiments reported in this paper show no serological distinctions among the six strains used in the study. B. melitensis II and B. melitensis III were found to be identical with the bovine and swine...