Brucellosis in Sheep, Goats and Camels: Signs and Prevention

Brucellosis is a bacterial disease of sheep, goats, camels and cattle that mainly causes abortions in late pregnancy, weak newborns, retained afterbirth and infertility, and it spreads to people as Malta fever. Infected animals can look healthy. It is controlled by blood testing, removing positive animals as your vet and authorities advise, vaccination under the official programme, hygiene at births and never consuming raw milk.

Brucellosis is one of the most important diseases for small ruminant and camel keepers in the Middle East and Africa, for two reasons: it quietly destroys a flock's reproduction, and it makes people sick. Breeders, workers, butchers and families who drink raw milk or handle births with bare hands are the most exposed. In many countries it is a notifiable disease handled with the official veterinary services.

How brucellosis spreads

The bacteria are present in very large numbers in aborted foetuses, afterbirths and birth fluids of infected females. They are also shed in milk and, in males, can affect the testicles and semen. Main routes of spread:

• Contact with abortions and births: animals licking or sniffing aborted material, and contaminated bedding, feed and water.
• Buying infected animals, often females that look completely normal.
• Mating, when infected males are used.
• Suckling: young animals drinking milk from infected dams.
• Shared pastures, water points and markets where many herds mix.

People catch brucellosis mainly by:

• Drinking raw (unboiled, unpasteurised) milk or eating fresh dairy products made from it.
• Handling abortions, births and afterbirths without gloves.
• Contact with infected tissues during slaughter.

Signs in animals

The difficulty with brucellosis is that many infected animals show no illness at all. Watch for patterns rather than single animals:

An "abortion storm", where several females abort within a short time, should always lead to a vet visit and laboratory testing. Brucellosis is not the only cause of abortion; others include infections, nutritional problems and stress. Our article on miscarriage causes in sheep and goats explains the main ones. Only laboratory tests confirm which one you are dealing with.

Diagnosis and what happens to positive animals

Brucellosis is diagnosed with blood tests and, in some cases, by testing milk or samples from aborted material. Your vet will choose the tests and interpret them, often together with the official laboratory.

What happens next depends on your country's rules. In many control programmes, positive animals are removed from breeding and sent for slaughter under veterinary supervision, and the herd is retested at intervals until it is clear. Treatment of animals is generally not the approach used for herds, and you should never try to treat suspected brucellosis yourself with antibiotics.

Prevention for the herd

Buy carefully. Ask for test results or buy from herds with a known health status. Keep new animals separate and test them before mixing; see our guide to quarantine for new animals.

Vaccinate under the official programme. Vaccines exist for small ruminants and are used in many countries, but who is vaccinated, at what age and with which product is decided by the ministry and your vet. Some vaccines can interfere with test results or affect pregnant females, which is another reason to never vaccinate on your own initiative.

Manage every abortion as a risk.

1. Wear gloves and, if possible, a mask when handling aborted material.
2. Isolate the female that aborted.
3. Collect the foetus and afterbirth in a sealed bag and call your vet for samples.
4. Then dispose of the material safely (burial or as your vet advises) so dogs and other animals cannot reach it.
5. Clean and disinfect the area and remove contaminated bedding.

Use a separate lambing area that is easy to clean, and avoid crowding at birth time.

Control the males. Test breeding males and remove any with abnormal testicles until the vet has examined them.

Protecting your family and workers

Brucellosis in people can cause long-lasting fever, sweating, joint pain and fatigue, and needs medical treatment. Simple rules prevent most cases:

• Boil or pasteurise all milk from sheep, goats and camels before drinking or making dairy products.
• Wear gloves for assisting births, handling abortions and removing afterbirths.
• Wash hands with soap after any contact with animals, especially around lambing.
• Tell your doctor that you work with livestock if you have an unexplained or recurring fever.

Keeping records that help control the disease

A brucellosis programme relies on knowing which animal is which and what happened to her:

• Record every abortion with date, female, stage of pregnancy and the vet's findings.
• Store test dates and results on each animal.
• Mark suspect or positive animals with the isolation status and keep them in a separate group.
• Track the herd's abortion and birth figures over the seasons.

In Throf, abortions are recorded as a production event on the female, test results and vet inspections go into her health history, and isolation status keeps suspects visible to the whole team. When the vet asks "how many abortions this season, and in which females?", the answer is a few taps away.