Brucellosis in Colombia: Current Status and Challenges in the Control of an Endemic Disease

Abstract

Brucellosis is a zoonosis of nearly worldwide distribution. The disease is considered to be endemic in most of the developing countries with a substantial impact on both human and animal health as well as on the economy. The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the brucellosis status in Colombia and the factors associated with its persistence, to highlight the strengths and gaps of the adopted countermeasures and to supply evidence to policy-makers on the best approaches to mitigate the disease burden. Due to the presence of brucellosis in several susceptible production livestock systems scattered throughout the country, a plan for its control, prevention and eradication was established almost 20 years ago. However, despite extensive efforts, brucellosis prevalence has fluctuated over the years without any trend of decreasing. The restricted budget allocated for brucellosis control is a limiting factor for the success of the program. For instance, the absence of indemnities for farmers results in infected animals remaining on farms which potentially increases the risk of disease spread. Likewise, disease surveillance is restricted to Brucella abortus and excludes other Brucella species of importance, such as B. melitensis and B. suis. The countermeasures are mostly focused on cattle and only a few actions are in place for the management of brucellosis in other livestock species. In humans, cases of brucellosis are annually diagnosed, although the disease remains highly underreported. High impact educational and training programs are required to address the disease in a comprehensive manner, including vulnerable groups, such as traditional smallholders and low-productivity regions, as well as other stakeholders, such as healthcare and veterinary authorities. Important financial investments based on sustained cooperation between governmental institutions, industry, and farmers are important for developing affordable and effective strategies to control the disease.

Importance of brucellosis control programs of livestock on the improvement of one health

“… 2008 ; Blasco and Molina-Flores 2011 ; Avila-Granados et al. 2019 ). In this respect, strict national surveillance programs are necessary to recognize infected herds, and would allow any subsequent corrective and preventive measures to be taken in (Renukaradhya et al.…”

“…However, the complexity of brucellosis control in different endemic countries may offset the preventive effects of applicable long-term intervention approaches on livestock, thereby causing significant economic losses for veterinary instances (Deka et al 2018;Singh et al 2015). Such losses are not confined to the livestock production (reduced milk, delayed conception and abortion) (Avila-Granados et al 2019;Bamaiyi 2015;Machavarapu et al 2019), rather extending over the global public health system (cost of treatment and productivity loss) (Dadar et al 2019b).…”

“…Such losses are not confined to the livestock production (reduced milk, delayed conception and abortion) (Bamaiyi 2015 ; Avila-Granados et al. 2019 ; Machavarapu et al. 2019 ), rather extending over the global public health system (cost of treatment and productivity loss) (Dadar et al.…”

Bovine brucellosis – a comprehensive review

“…other than B. abortus is not clear and control measures are targeted towards cattle and not any other animal species. Moreover, a financial investment based-collaborative approach of government, industry and farmers is necessary to encourage effective disease control strategies (Avila-Granados et al 2019 ). The mainstay on the path of controlling the disease in livestock includes mere allocation of budget, lack of indemnities to farmers, restricted disease surveillance to B. abortus excluding the risk occurrence due to other Brucella species and finally more focus on cattle (Avila-Granados et al 2019 ).…”

“…In case of humans, comprehensive educational and training programs are utmost necessary to control the disease in vulnerable groups like traditional small holders, healthcare providers and veterinarians. In this context, a financial investment-based collaborative approach of government, semi-government organizations, private industries and farmers is crucial in effective disease control strategies (Avila-Granados et al 2019 ). Brucellosis is a major public health concern all around the world so a combined effort of veterinarians along with healthcare professionals is essential to curtail the disease.…”