The changing ecology: novel reservoirs, new threats

Georgios Pappas (1)

1 Institute of Continuing Medical Education of Ioannina

Brucellosis is a zoonosis that preceded humans but continues to cause significant medical, veterinary and socioeconomic problems, mainly because its overall burden remains underestimated and neglected. Its ecology, or what we know of it, has evolved rapidly in recent years. Two novel species, and with the potential for causing human disease have been isolated from marine mammals. Another novel species, has been isolated from wildlife animals, while has been isolated from a human case. An active spillover of between domestic animals and wildlife is also being recognized, with elk transmitting to cattle, and freshwater fish becoming infected with from waste meat. In recent years the global epidemiology of the disease has not altered drastically, apart from increased awareness of brucellosis in sub-Saharan Africa and a rapid expansion of disease endemicity in the Balkan Peninsula. Isolated stories and events underline that knows no borders. The modern world has offered the pathogen the ability to travel and manifest itself anywhere and has also offered scientists the ability to track these manifestations better than ever before. This may allow the disease to be neglected no longer, or at least to be recognized as neglected.

Mots clés: Brucellosis; Epidemiology; Emerging infectious disease; Zoonosis

Georgios Pappas. The changing ecology: novel reservoirs, new threats. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 2010, 36, ⟨10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2010.06.013⟩. ⟨hal-00632724⟩