Following a zoonoses and public health report from the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), which highlighted the increase in the number of dogs suffering from canine brucellosis, and the spread of national news highlighting this, the National Health Commission of the Veterinary College of Chile (Colmevet) calls for calm and maintain responsible pet ownership, considering that the incidence of this bacterial disease is still low in our country.

“Canine brucellosis is a bacterial disease that is widespread in the world, especially in Latin America, which is caused by this bacterium Brucella canis. In Chile, the incidence of this disease is low, reported at 7% in 2020 by researchers from the University of Chile,” said Nicolás Galarce, director of the National One Health Commission of Colmevet.

In this regard, he explained that the host is natural and almost exclusive B. kanis They are dogs, but the bacteria also have zoonotic potential, that is, they can attack humans.

“In dogs, this pathogen can cause reproductive failure such as abortion, stillbirth, epididymitis, orchitis, and sperm abnormalities. “The most common route of transmission in dogs is through sexual contact, although dogs can be infected through consuming tissue and fluids from infected animals, and puppies can be infected in the womb,” he explained.

Prevention and transmission to humans

As explained by the academic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Andrés Bello University, humans can contract the bacteria through handling abortion remains, dog vaginal fluids and infected animal urine.

This disease can cause conditions with varying symptoms (fever, myalgia, weakness, headache), thus indicating that this disease has an effective treatment in humans.

Meanwhile, as explained by Una Salud de Colmevet, unlike what happens in humans, in dogs there is currently no effective treatment to eliminate infection and there is no vaccine to prevent it, so the only recommendation is sterilization of dogs to prevent transmission. This means maintaining the care associated with responsible pet ownership.