Suspected case of brucellosis: blood samples collected

Veterinary experts have collected blood samples of cattle from Muvattupuzha following the death of a woman due to suspected case of brucellosis.

The infection causes infertility in human beings and abortion in cattle. It spreads mostly through uterine discharges of infected animals at the time of calving or abortion. Incidents of the disease turning out to be fatal for human beings are rare. The infection results in undulating fever in human beings and requires long-term medication, experts said.

The team consisting of four veterinarians from Chief Disease Investigation Office of the Animal Husbandry Department, Palode, experts from Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Palakkad, Veterinary Poly Clinic, Muvattupuzha, a veterinary epidemiologist and a representative of the Indian Veterinary Association collected blood samples from one goat and seven cows from the residence of the deceased.

The woman had died on August 14 and blood sample analysis of the deceased reportedly indicated the presence of antibody of the disease causing pathogen. She had been rearing cattle for quite some time and had sold a few cows weeks before her death.

These animals were not tracked as the quarantine time of three weeks had already passed and no indications of the spread of disease were available. The source of infection was not clear, veterinarians said.

Meanwhile, the Ernakulam District Medical officer Dr. R. Sudhakaran said that the patient died of pneumonia and had the symptoms of H1N1 infection. Brucellosis was quite unlikely to have caused death in this case, he said.

Sporadic incidents of brucellosis have been reported from the State. The presence of the disease can be confirmed only through blood sample analysis and the results of the analysis from Muvattupuzha will be available next week, said one of the team members.

Many veterinarians and farmers consider the disease as an occupational hazard. Though the disease, which is also known as Malta fever, is not a life-threatening one, it may lead to economic loss. The scientific way of controlling the spread of disease in human beings is to cull the infected animal and safely dispose the uterus and internal organs. Cattle reared at a State-owned farm at Wayanad had to be culled over a decade ago following the occurrence of the disease, experts said.