Increasing Threat of Brucellosis to Low-Risk Persons in Urban Settings, China - Volume 20, Number 1—January 2014 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Increasing Threat of Brucellosis to Low-Risk Persons in Urban Settings, China - Volume 20, Number 1—January 2014 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 20, Number 1—January 2014

Dispatch

Increasing Threat of Brucellosis to Low-Risk Persons in Urban Settings, China

Article Contents

• Case Reports
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgments
• References
• Figure 1
• Figure 2
• Table 1
• Table 2
• Technical Appendix - 24 KB 
• Suggested Citation

Shouyi Chen1, Hao Zhang1, Xiaoning Liu1, Wenjing Wang1, Shuiping Hou, Tingting Li, Shuoxian Zhao, Zhicong Yang, and Chengyao Li 

Author affiliations: Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China (S. Chen, H. Zhang, X. Liu, S. Hou, Z. Yang);Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China (W. Wang, T. Li, S. Zhao, C. Li)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

Cases of brucellosis were diagnosed in 3-month-old twins and their mother. An epidemiologic survey suggested that raw sheep or goat meat might be the source ofBrucella melitensis infection. This finding implies that the increasing threat of brucellosis might affect low-risk persons in urban settings in China.

Brucellosis, a zoonotic disease, causes severe pain and impairment in humans. In 2012, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) reported 39,515 new cases of human brucellosis, and this number is increasing by 10% each year. Generally, brucellosis is associated with persons who are occupationally in contact with Brucella spp.–infected animals or products (1,2). However, in this report, we present a cluster of cases of brucellosis in a family living in Guangzhou, China. These data illustrate a trend of human brucellosis threatening theoretically low-risk persons in an urban setting and suggest a need for eradicating or controlling Brucella spp.–infected animals and products in China.