Brucellosis

The AVMA supports the commitment of all responsible state and federal agencies to continue appropriate and timely actions to control brucellosis in susceptible domestic and wild animal populations. Continued support for disease control efforts toward the ultimate elimination of brucellosis should remain a national priority.

High priorities for brucellosis control and elimination include the following:

Research

  • Development of vaccines and vaccine delivery systems appropriate for target populations. The AVMA supports, as a high priority, the rapid development and use of safe and effective vaccines against brucellosis to promote human and animal health and to conserve wildlife populations and their genetic diversity.
  • Development of valid, reliable, user-friendly, animal-side diagnostic tests, with emphasis on diagnostic assays differentiating infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) to accompany newer species-specific vaccines for livestock and wildlife.
  • Studies to further clarify the host-pathogen relationship, host preference, and molecular epidemiology of brucellosis, including disease pathogenesis, host immune responses (in both wildlife and livestock), and transmission dynamics and parameters. These factors, once determined, may be leveraged for control and elimination of the disease.

Population disease management

  • Surveillance: The AVMA urges the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to maintain emphasis on comprehensive nationwide surveillance during the last phases of control leading to elimination.
  • Greater Yellowstone Brucellosis: The AVMA urges state and federal agencies to continue working to control and eliminate brucellosis from bison and elk populations in the Greater Yellowstone Area utilizing the 2017 National Academies of Sciences report entitled "Revisiting Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area" as a resource.
  • Feral swine: The AVMA supports the Cooperative State-Federal Swine Brucellosis Eradication Program and related research. The AVMA encourages continued research regarding the elimination of brucellosis from feral swine populations in support of the control of brucellosis in livestock in the United States.

Regulatory changes

  • For research priorities to be accomplished, the AVMA encourages the removal of Brucella abortus from select agent lists. It is vitally important that regulations allow for continued research efforts, especially to produce more efficacious vaccines against Brucella, while continuing to maintain the highest standards of biocontainment and biosecurity that are appropriate for working with this organism.

Funding

  • The AVMA urges adequate funding for brucellosis control and elimination efforts by the USDA and state governments.

Related policy

Canine brucellosis