Brucella Flashcards

1
Q

What does Brucella cause?

A

Abortion in animals and foodborne zoonosis for humans

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2
Q

Where was brucella first discovered?

A

In small cocci in the spleen

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3
Q

What is the basic microbiology of brucella?

A
  • Gram negative
  • Small coccobacilli
  • Aerobic, Capnophillic (thrive in high CO2), Catalase +
  • Faculative intracellular
  • Has environmental persistence
  • Non-Sporulating
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4
Q

What are the 6 classical species of Brucella?

A
  1. B. abortus
  2. B. melitensis
  3. B. suis
  4. B. canis
  5. B.ovis
  6. B. neotomae
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5
Q

What species are smooth/ possess the O-polysaccharide?

A

B. abortus, B. melitensis & B. suis

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6
Q

What species are naturally rough/ do not produce OPS?

A

B. ovis & B. canis

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7
Q

What type of Brucella are more pathogenic?

A

Smooth

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8
Q

What is the taxonomy of Brucella?

A

Phylum: α-Proteobacteria
* Order: Rhizobiales
* Family: Brucellaceae
* Genus: Brucella

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9
Q

What has brucella derived from?

A

soil dwelling plant associate

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10
Q

What is important about ruminant abortion

A
  • Only in the last trimester
  • they only abort once from the infection
  • next pregnnacy they excrete the bacteria- milk/ calf may be infecred
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11
Q

Where is the significant shedding of brucella in ruminants?

A

Through milk

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12
Q

How is brucella transmissed?

A
  • Shared grazing
  • Importation of animals
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13
Q

Why does brucella not effect human pregnancies?

A

Humans do not produce the hormone erythitol

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14
Q

How does brucella cause abortion in a pregnant animal carrying it?

A
  1. Erythitol is produced by placental cells in the final trimester
  2. Brucella is attracted to the placenta-due to the erythitol
  3. Invasion of the placenta via erythropathogenic cells
  4. Causes an inflammatory response -> tissue damage -> abortion
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15
Q

What are the clinical signs of brucella in pigs?

A
  • Similiar to ruminants
  • may see swollen joints and tendon sheaths, lameness and incoorrdination
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16
Q

How do we control brucella in animals?

A

Culling rather than Treating

17
Q

What are the clinical signs of brucella in horses?

A
  • Vague lameness
  • ‘fistulous’ withers
18
Q

How many chromosones does Brucella have and what are their total size?

A
  • 2 chromosones
  • total size = 3.3 Mbp
19
Q

What can release large quantities of Brucella into the environment?

A

Abortion or live birth from an infected animal

20
Q

What is the most significant brucella symptom in males?

A

Orchitis

21
Q

In what herds is their most likely to be ‘extreme’ abortion storms?

A

Naive herds, may be abortion storms of up to 50%

22
Q

How may Brucella be passed on into humans?

A
  • Conjunctiva or Broken skin comes into contact with infected tissue
  • May be ingested/ e.g raw milk
  • Inhalation of infectious aerosols
  • Inoculation with vaccines
23
Q

What is the average incubation of brucella?

A

7-21 days to several months

24
Q

What are the most common symptoms of Brucella in humans?

A
  • Flu-Like, e.g anorexia, fatigue, weight-loss
  • Hepatosplenomegaly, Lymphadenopathy
  • primarily a febrile disease
25
Q

How is Brucella Treated?

A

Antibiotic treatment- doxycycline, streptomycin

26
Q

What usually causes death in humans?

this is rare <2%

A

endocarditis, meningitis

27
Q

What percentage of treated cases relapse?

A

Around 5%

28
Q

Where does Brucella mainly reside?

aka what cell

A

within non-professional and professional phagocytes such as
macrophages & form Brucella Containing Vacuoles (BCVs)

this makes it invisible to the immune system

29
Q

How does the Type IV secretion system work?

A
  • Injects effector proteins into the cytoplasm cell
  • T4SS is crucial for establishment
    of the replicative niche –
    an endoplasmic reticulum
    (ER) derived vacoule.
  • Brucella T4SS mutants are
    highly attenuated
30
Q

Give 5 ways you could diagnose Brucella

A
  1. Serological testing
  2. Milk testing
  3. Culture Abortion Products
  4. Bacteriological identification
  5. Tissue collected post-mortem

rose-bengal test is the most common

31
Q

What two infectious agents may resemble Brucella?

A
  1. Coxiella
  2. Chlamydia
32
Q

What growth media would you use to grow Brucella?

A

Farrels medium containing horse serum
* 10% CO2
* Selective Enrichment used for blood

33
Q

What are the best ways we can control Brucella?

A
  • Pasteurisation of milk
  • Vaccination of cattle, sheep and goat in enzootic areas
  • Eradication testing and culling
  • Continued surveillance of milk and blood
  • Epidemiological tracing
34
Q

What category is Brucella in terms of Biological Warfare?

A

Category B
* Moderately easy to disseminate
* causes moderate morbidity and low mortality