Brucellosis is highly contagious bacterial zoonoses affecting a wide range of domesticated and wild animals. In this study, Brucella (B.) abortus bv 1 was identified in uterine discharge of apparently healthy bitch and queen with open pyometra housed on a cattle farm. This study highlights the role of dogs and cats as symptomatic carriers and reservoirs for Brucella. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first report of feline infection with B. abortus bv 1 globally. These pet animals may contaminate the environment and infect both livestock and humans. Surveillance and control programmes of brucellosis have to include eradication of the disease in dogs, cats and companion animals.

BackgroundBetween February and July 2014, a cross-sectional study to estimate the seroprevalence of brucellosis in sheep in the Kafrelsheikh district of Egypt was carried out, together with a survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) among local shepherds. A total of 273 serum samples were collected from 28 sheep flocks in 10 villages within the study area. These samples were analysed by the Rose Bengal Plate test (RBPT) test, with all positive samples being confirmed by complement fixation test (CFT).ResultsTrue seroprevalence was 20 % (95 % CI 15.3–24.7 %) with the prevalence of villages with at least one seropositive sheep estimated at 95.5 % (95 % CI 92.2–100 %); village flock seroprevalence ranged from 0 to 46.8 %. Results of the KAPs survey demonstrated that despite good knowledge regarding brucellosis being potentially present within their flocks, shepherds lacked knowledge regarding routes of livestock to humans disease transmission and the symptoms of brucellosis in humans. This lack of knowledge regarding disease transmission resulted in high-risk practices being widespread—practices such as assisting parturition without protective measures, throwing aborted material into water canals and a reluctance to remove animals that had aborted from the flock.ConclusionsThis study proposes potential measures to reduce seroprevalence of brucellosis in sheep and reduce public health risks from brucellosis such as culling aborted livestock and educational campaigns among shepherds regarding disease risks and modes of transmission.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13028-015-0183-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Brucellosis represents a re-emerging, transboundary disease caused by members of the expanding genus Brucella that leads to a significant economic burden to animal production due to abortions, reduced milk yield, infertility and serious health risks in humans (McDermott, Grace, & Zinsstag, 2013). The symptoms of human infection are non-specific, but the most common symptoms of acute form are fever, malaise, anorexia, headache and backache. Some cases may develop complications including arthritis, orchitis, endocarditis, spondylitis, sacroiliitis, osteomyelitis and meningoencephalitis (Hasanjani Roushan & Ebrahimpour, 2015). Human infection is mostly dependent on the animal reservoir and can occur by direct contact with infected animals through occupational

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In this study, Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA‐16) was performed on 18 Brucella isolates identified bacteriologically and molecularly (AMOS‐PCR) as Brucella abortus ( n = 6) and Brucella melitensis ( n = 12). This was aimed to study the genetic association among some Egyptian Brucella genotypes isolated during the period from 2002 to 2013 along with the global genotypes database. MLVA‐16 analysis for B. melitensis and B. abortus strains illustrates a total of 11, and 3 genotypes with 10 and 1 singleton genotypes, respectively. B. melitensis strains displayed greater markers diversity by VNTRs analysis of the 16 loci than B. abortus and this was attributed mainly to the diverging in panel 2B markers. B. melitensis genotype M4_Fayoum_Giza (3,5,3,13,1,1,3,3,8,21,8,7,5,9,5,3) was the only predominated genotype circulating between two different governorates. The most common B. abortus genotype, GT A3_Dakahlia (4,5,4,12,2,2,3,3,6,21,8,4,4,3,4,4), was present in three identical isolates. In phylogeny, Egyptian B. abortus bv1 genotypes were closely related to East Asian strain (for the first time), Western Mediterranean and Americas clonal lineages. B. melitensis local genotypes exhibit a genetic relatedness mostly to Western Mediterranean clonal lineage and one strain of Eastern Mediterranean clonal lineage. In conclusion, the geographic location is not the only factor stands behind the high genetic similarity of the Egyptian Brucella genotypes. These low variations may be a result of a stepwise mutational event of the most variable loci from a very limited number of ancestors especially during the transmission through non‐preference hosts. The authors encourage the authorities in charge to establish pre‐movement testing to reduce the risk of brucellosis spread.

Brucellosis, caused by the bacteria of the genus Brucella, is one of the most neglected common zoonotic diseases globally with a public health significance and a high economic loss among the livestock industry worldwide. Since little is known about the distribution of B. abortus in Egypt, a total of 46 B. abortus isolates recovered between 2012–2020, plus one animal isolate from 2006, were analyzed by examining the whole core genome single nucleotide polymorphism (cgSNP) in comparison to the in silico multilocus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Both cgSNP analysis and MLVA revealed three clusters and one isolate only was distantly related to the others. One cluster identified a rather widely distributed outbreak strain which is repeatedly occurring for at least 16 years with marginal deviations in cgSNP analysis. The other cluster of isolates represents a rather newly introduced outbreak strain. A separate cluster comprised RB51 vaccine related strains, isolated from aborted material. The comparison with MLVA data sets from public databases reveals one near relative from Argentina to the oldest outbreak strain and a related strain from Spain to a newly introduced outbreak strain in Egypt. The distantly related isolate matches with a strain from Portugal in the MLVA profile. Based on cgSNP analysis the oldest outbreak strain clusters with strains from the UK. Compared to the in silico analysis of MLVA, cgSNP analysis using WGS data provides a much higher resolution of genotypes and, when correlated to the associated epidemiological metadata, cgSNP analysis allows the differentiation of outbreaks by defining different outbreak strains. In this respect, MLVA data are error-prone and can lead to incorrect interpretations of outbreak events.

Brucellosis is a zoonosis that has a devastating impact on the economy and public health, particularly in the Middle East, including Egypt. This study aimed to define risk factors associated with brucellosis in humans and in their cattle in Fayoum governorate - Upper Egypt. Also, molecular genotyping of recovered Brucella isolates from human cases and their cattle to assess the potential cross-species transmission in the study region. Data were obtained via double matched case–control studies for brucellosis in humans (106 cases and 160 controls) and in their cattle (78 cattle cases and 105 cattle controls). The results of multivariate regression analysis revealed that predictors of human brucellosis were animal-related occupations (OR 2.1, P 0.02), previous infection in other household members (OR 3.2, P 0.007), eating home-made soft cheese (OR 2.3, P 0.03), and exposure to cattle abortions (OR 6.9, P < 0.001). For cattle, predictors of brucellosis were maturity ≥2 years of age (OR 2.9, P 0.01), ≥2 animals reared by the same household (OR 3.7–6.9, P ≤ 0.001), and recent abortion (OR 15.2, P 0.01). Twelve Brucella isolates were recovered from eight human cases (7.5%, 8/106) and four cattle cases (6.2%, 4/65). All isolates were B. melitensis biovar 3. Analysis of the IS711 gene sequence revealed complete homology (100%) between isolates. Six virulence genes were utilized for virutyping: virB (100%), omp25 (100%), amiC (100%), ure (91.7%), wbkA (91.7%), and bvfA (75%). Virutyping revealed four virutypes: V1 (lack bvfA , 16.7%), V2 (harbored all genes, 66.7%), V3 (lack wbkA , 8.3%), and V4 (lack wbkA and ure , 8.3%). Repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (REP-PCR) typing revealed two REP types. Combined REP-PCR/virulence genotyping revealed five different genotypes (G1–G5) for the detected isolates and a unique genotype for the reference strain (G6, B. melitensis bv3 Ether). Human and cattle isolates from the same household had matched genotypes. In conclusion, there were widespread risk factors among the cases studied. Health education for high-risk groups is essential for disease prevention, and combined REP-PCR/virulence genotyping is a quick tool for traceability, particularly in developing countries endemic with brucellosis as Egypt.

Brucellosis is one of the most common neglected zoonotic diseases globally, with a public health significance and a high economic loss in the livestock industry caused by the bacteria of the genus Brucella. In this study, 136 Egyptian Brucella melitensis strains isolated from animals and humans between 2001 and 2020 were analysed by examining the whole‐core‐genome single‐nucleotide polymorphism (cgSNP) in comparison to the in silico multilocus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA‐16). Almost all Egyptian isolates were belonging to the West Mediterranean clade, except two isolates from buffalo and camel were belonging to the American and East Mediterranean clades, respectively. A significant correlation between the human case of brucellosis and the possible source of infection from animals was found. It seems that several outbreak strains already existing for many years have been spread over long distances and between many governorates. The cgSNP analysis, in combination with epidemiological metadata, allows a better differentiation than the MLVA‐16 genotyping method and, hence, the source definition and tracking of outbreak strains. The MLVA based on the currently used 16 markers is not suitable for this task. Our results revealed 99 different cgSNP genotypes with many different outbreak strains, both older and widely distributed ones and rather newly introduced ones as well. This indicates several different incidents and sources of infections, probably by imported animals from other countries to Egypt. Comparing our panel of isolates to public databases by cgSNP analysis, the results revealed near relatives from Italy. Moreover, near relatives from the United States, France, Austria and India were found by in silico MLVA.