Brucella species are responsible for brucellosis, a worldwide zoonotic disease causing abortion in domestic animals and Malta fever in humans. Based on host preference, the genus is divided into six species. Brucella abortus, B. melitensis, and B. suis are pathogenic to humans, whereas B. ovis and B. neotomae are nonpathogenic to humans and B. canis human infections are rare. Limited genome div...

Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonoses globally, and Central Asia remains a Brucella hotspot. The World Health Organization classifies brucellosis as a neglected zoonotic disease that is rarely in the spotlight for research and mainly affects poor, marginalized people. Urban and peri-urban farming is a common practice in many low-income countries, and it increases the incomes of familie...

Brucella melitensis causes the most severe and acute symptoms of all Brucella species in human beings and infects hosts primarily through the oral route. The epithelium covering domed villi of jejunal-ileal Peyer's patches is an important site of entry for several pathogens, including Brucella. Here, we use the calf ligated ileal loop model to study temporal in vivo Brucella-infected host molec...

Brucella, the causative agent of brucellosis in animals and humans, can survive and proliferate within macrophages. Macrophages mediate mouse resistance to various pathogens through the expression of the Nramp1 gene. The role of this gene in the control of Brucella infection was investigated. When BALB/c mice (Nramp1(s)) and C.CB congenic mice (Nramp1(r)) were infected with Brucella melitensis,...

Hot phenol-water extraction of smooth Brucella abortus and B. melitensis cells yielded a toxic fraction which was recovered from the phenol phase (fraction 5). Chemically, fractions 5 from both Brucella species were lipid-carbohydrate-protein-2 keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid complexes which were stable to heat and resistant to Pronase digestion. Electron micrographs of the Brucella toxins were mo...

OBJECTIVE 1) To identify patients of brucella spondylitis and sacroiliitis amongst patients of 'infective spondylitis' and 'sacroiliitis', 2) To study clinical and radiographic features and outcome of brucella spondylitis. METHODS We reviewed 21 patients of infective spondylitis and 12 of sacroiliitis attending our hospital between March and September 2000 and followed them to identify patien...

Group 3 of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Brucella includes Omp25 and Omp31, which share 34% identity. Omp25 is highly conserved in Brucella species, and Omp31 is present in all Brucella species, except Brucella abortus. Antibodies to Brucella melitensis Omp31 have been sought only in infected sheep, and Western blotting of sera from infected sheep did not reveal anti-Omp31 reactivity. We ob...

Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonosis causing reproductive failures in livestock. It is shown that although the vaccine can prevent abortion, it does not provide complete protection against infection. So that vaccination of ewes with Rev.1 biotype can be a source of cattle and even human Brucellosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate possibility of Brucella cross-infection in cattle from Bruc...

Brucella species are important human and animal pathogens. Though, only little is known about mobile genetic elements of these highly pathogenic bacteria. To date, neither plasmids nor temperate phages have been described in brucellae. We analyzed genomic sequences of various reference and type strains and identified a number of putative prophages residing within the Brucella chromosomes. By in...

Assessing Brucella ceti Infections in Oregon and Washington Dolphins that Stranded with Histopathological Lesions Resembling Neurobrucellosis, 2006-2014 Tabitha George This thesis documents the presence of Brucella ceti in the Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), and shortbeaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) that stranded with...