High Incidence of Respiratory Involvement in a Cluster of Brucella suis‐Infected Workers from a Pork Processing Plant in Argentina

Abstract

Summary Epidemiological and clinical aspects of Brucella suis infection in 17 workers from a pork processing plant in Argentina occurring between January 2014 and July 2015 are presented. All patients reported working 9 h daily without adequate personal protection garment. Blood cultures were positive for Brucella spp. in 14 of the 17 patients (82.3%). All isolates were identified as B. suis biovar 1. Although fever, sweats, asthenia, myalgia and hepatic involvement were the most frequent clinical manifestations, an unusually high incidence of respiratory involvement was found. From 13 patients in which chest radiography was performed, four (30%) had radiological abnormalities, including lobar pneumonia in two cases (one with pleural effusion) and interstitial involvement in other two. The high frequency of respiratory involvement in our series makes necessary to consider brucellosis in the differential diagnosis of respiratory diseases in pork processing plant employees.

Biosafety Concerns Related toBrucellaand Its Potential Use as a Bioweapon

“…94 In 17 workers infected with B. suis at a pork processing plant in Argentina, 4 had indications of respiratory involvement and infections were assumed to be the result of aerosols, conjunctival splashes, or direct entry through skin lesions. 95 In similar manner to other reports of pulmonary brucellosis, patients in this study responded well to antimicrobial treatment with no relapses in patients with respiratory involvement. 95 In a survey of human brucellosis caused by B. suis in Australia, 38% (n = 12) had respiratory symptoms but the manuscript did not clarify if patients with respiratory symptoms were among the 9% (n = 3) that had relapse after treatment.…”

“…95 In similar manner to other reports of pulmonary brucellosis, patients in this study responded well to antimicrobial treatment with no relapses in patients with respiratory involvement. 95 In a survey of human brucellosis caused by B. suis in Australia, 38% (n = 12) had respiratory symptoms but the manuscript did not clarify if patients with respiratory symptoms were among the 9% (n = 3) that had relapse after treatment. 73 In conclusion, data suggest that localization in pulmonary tissues; even in environments in which exposure may have been via aerosol, is not associated with more severe clinical symptoms and responds equally well to antimicrobial treatment as compared to brucellosis patients without pulmonary involvement.…”

Occupational exposure to Brucella spp.: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A total of 292 individuals working in slaughterhouses were described as brucellosis-positive in fourteen articles [19,20,23,33,34,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. Most of those individuals were from America (n = 162), Africa (n = 60), and Europe (n = 37) and the minority from Asia (n = 33).…”

Rickettsia burneti and Brucella melitensis co-infection: a case report and literature review

“…Brucella is more common in cattle, sheep, pigs and other domestic animals, patients are mainly infected by contact with infected sheep or by drinking infected goat milk ,Brucella can also be transmitted from person to person, the most common vertical transmission between mother and child [12].The incubation period is usually 5-60 days [13].After infection, the symptoms of Brucellosis are atypical and the clinical manifestations are varied, including fever, bone and arthropathy, sweating, fatigue, etc., which can be combined with other diseases. Because of its characteristics, it is easy to cause clinical missed examination and misdiagnosis, so that the disease delay, and even cause arthritis, myocarditis, liver and spleen involvement and other complications [14][15][16].Lots of studies have shown that CRP and PCT are sensitive indicators for the diagnosis of Brucellosis [17,18].The cure rate of infection in the acute stage of brucellosis is 90-95%, and the chronic infection caused by brucellosis has not been cured, so early diagnosis, early treatment of brucellosis is very important. After 72 hours of blood culture, the culture system reported positive results.…”