Question: What can I do to rid cattle that tested positive for brucellosis, of the disease? And how does one prevent contagious abortion from occurring?

• There is no treatment.
• Even in human beings the treatment is extremely expensive and takes a long time.
• One can never say that one is truly healed.
• The treatment is able to suppress the causative bacteria (germs), but the disease could recur at any time in the future.
• The reason animals cannot be treated is that the Brucella abortus bacteria occur in cells from where treatment cannot remove them all.
• Vaccines do not heal; they are simply preventative.

PREVENTION

Be very careful about where you buy cattle. Insist on seeing the written laboratory immunity test results.

Recently, a farmer even changed the laboratory’s results and gave the buyer a copy. When the buyer got the original from the State Veterinarian, it included several animals that had tested positive.

Be wary of heifers that originate from a herd in which some animals tested positive for brucellosis. The incubation period for the disease (from infection to the time that a blood test will show a positive result) could be anywhere from 8 days to 2 years, or even longer.

Also read:
Livestock production: Testing your herd for brucellosis (contagious abortion)
Livestock production: What to do if your herd tests positive for brucellosis (contagious abortion)

• This article was written by Dr. Matt Ekron and appears in Ask the vet: What cattle farmers should know (1), compiled by Dr. Faffa Malan.