Canine brucellosis: Epizootiological characteristics, therapy and control of the disease

Abstract

The paper describes different aspects of canine brucellosis caused by Brucella canis. The disease is present in a large number of countries all over the world, where it inflicts severe economic damages, in particular in the commercial breeding and major dog breeding facilities. The disease was discovered in 1966 in the United States of America, but there were no data about its presence or distribution in our country until 1999. It was established, following the initial investigations, that the prevalence of the disease is extremely high, and that it amounted to 4.27% among pet dogs in the territory of Belgrade. Investigations of stray dogs in the territory of Podgorica showed that the seroprevalence (an equal titer or higher than 1/200) was 9.37%, while the prevalence among stray dogs in the territory of Belgrade was 10.87%. Data for other parts of Serbia are mostly lacking, and the seroprevalence for stray dogs in the Municipality of Pozarevac amounted to over 15%, while not a single serologically positive case was found among pet dogs. In addition to the epizootiological specificities of the disease established in our country, isolates of B. canis from the territory of Serbia also indicate digressions in the test of resistance to colors with respect to the referent strain RM6/66. All isolates (SR1-SR-7) are resistant to base fuchsine, and it is probable that this characteristic could also be an important epizootiological marker. Even though the isolation of the cause is the most reliable diagnostic method, it is not possible to achieve this in most cases. That is why one of the most important tasks is to define the most ideal tests for the serological diagnostics of the disease, and the obligation of reporting the disease makes it imperative that wider-scale investigations are conducted and that measures are taken toward reducing the number of positive cases in our country. .

U radu su opisani različiti aspekti bruceloze pasa izazvane sa Brucella canis. Bolest je prisutna u velikom broju zemalja sveta u kojima nanosi velike ekonomske gubitke, posebno u komercijalnom uzgoju i velikim odgajivačnicama pasa. Mada je otkrivena još 1966. godine u SAD, podaci o njenom prisustvu i rasprostranjenosti u našoj zemlji nisu postojali do 1999. godine. Nakon početnih ispitivanja ustanovljeno je da je prevalencija bolesti izuzetno visoka i da je kod kućnih pasa sa teritorije Beograda bila 4,27 posto. Ispitivanja pasa lutalica sa teritorije Podgorice ukazala su da je seroprevalencija (titar jednak ili veći od 1/200) 9,37 posto, dok je prevalencija kod pasa lutalica sa teritorije Beograda bila 10,87 posto. Podaci za druge delove Srbije uglavnom nedostaju, a seroprevalencija kod pasa lutalica u opštini Požarevac bila je veća od 15 posto, dok kod kućnih pasa nije ustanovljen ni jedan serološki pozitivan slučaj. Pored epizootioloških specifičnosti bolesti ustanovljenih u našoj zemlji, i izolati B. canis sa područja Srbije, ukazuju i na odstupanja u testu rezistencije na boje, u odnosu na referentni soj RM6/66. Svi izolati (SR1-SR-7) rezistentni su na bazni fuksin, a verovatno je da ova osobina može da bude i važan epizootiološki marker. Mada je izolacija uzročnika najpouzdanija dijagnostička metoda, ona u većini slučajeva nije moguća. Zato je definisanje najidealnijih testova za serološko dijagnostikovanje bolesti, jedan od najvažnih zadataka, a obaveza prijavljivanja bolesti, nalaže da se sprovedu šira ispitivanja i mere koje će da smanje broj pozitivnih slučajeva u našoj zemlji. .