Brucella

This page is about microbiologic aspects of the organism(s). For clinical aspects of the disease, see brucellosis.

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Danitza Lukac, Vishal Devarkonda, M.B.B.S [2]

Overview

Human brucellosis is caused by four Brucellae species: B. abortus, B. canis, B. melitensis, and B. suis.^[1]

Causes

Brucella is a genus of gram-negative bacteria.^[2]They are small (0.5 to 0.7 by 0.6 to 1.5 µm), non-motile and encapsulated coccobacilli.

Brucella species have been found primarily in mammals. ^[3] Brucellla species, with their host and degree of virulence is described below:^[4]


Species	Host	Human Virulence
B. melitensis	Goats, sheep, cattle, buffaloes, dogs and camels	++++
B. abortus	Cattle, buffaloes, bison, dogs, elk, and horses	++/+++
B. canis	Dogs	+
B. suis	Pigs and sheep	+
B. ovis	Sheep	–

Following tests may be used to differentiate between the different species of brucella.^[5]


Test	B. melitensis	B. abortus	B. suis	B. ovis	B. canis
Need to CO2	–	+	–	+	–
Production of H2S	–	+	+	–	–
Growth on basic fushin 0.002%	+	+	–	+	–
Growth on thionin 0.004%	–	–	+	+	+
Growth on thionin 0.002%	+	–	+	+	+
Destroy with Tb phage	–	+	–	–	–

References

↑ “WHO” (PDF).
↑ Ryan KJ, Ray CG (editors) (2004). Sherris Medical Microbiology (4th ed. ed.). McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-8385-8529-9.
↑ Pappas G, Akritidis N, Bosilkovski M, Tsianos E (2005). “Brucellosis”. N Engl J Med. 352 (22): 2325–36. doi:10.1056/NEJMra050570. PMID 15930423.
↑ “WHO” (PDF).
↑ “WHO” (PDF).

Overview