Canine Brucellosis

Canine brucellosis is a disease caused by the bacterium Brucella canis. Historically, this disease was only felt to be a concern in dogs who had been imported into the UK, or those who had travelled abroad. However, this disease is now being diagnosed in dogs who have never travelled, although they usually have lifestyle factors that increase their risk of contracting this disease, for example being reproductively active or having regular contact with an imported dog.

Many dogs with brucellosis have no clinical signs, thus, it can be easily missed which is concerning for two for two reasons:

• Firstly, this is a zoonotic infection, which means that dogs can infect humans. The disease in people can be very serious; thus, it is important we know if dogs are carrying the disease. Veterinary staff are known to be at an increased risk of contracting the disease.
• Secondly, brucellosis in dogs is very hard, if not impossible, to treat effectively. Thus, dogs are assumed to be life-long carriers once they are infected which means they act as a source of infection to other dogs (and people).

As mentioned above, in many cases infected dogs are asymptomatic (show no signs), however Brucella canis can cause a variety of possible problems including inflammation of the joints (polyarthritis), infection of the intervertebral discs in the back (discospondylitis), enlarged lymph nodes, fever, vaginal or preputial discharge, abortion, infertility and testicular asymmetry.

At Davies Veterinary Specialists we take the potential risk of Brucella canis seriously due to the risk to our staff, to you and your family as well as other dogs in our care. Thus, we are screening dogs that have travelled to certain areas of the world, who have lifestyle risk factors that increase their chance of contracting the disease or clinical signs that could be consistent with Brucella canis infection. If this in-house test is positive, we will send additional blood away to a government laboratory for confirmation.

If you have further questions about canine brucellosis, please do not hesitate to speak to the clinician in charge of your dog’s care.