Brucellosis is a bacterial disease of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs that also infects people. It has been reported in herds across Nigeria. Farmers lose money through abortions, weak calves and lower milk yields, and people who catch it can suffer months of fever and joint pain.

What causes it

Brucellosis is caused by Brucella bacteria. Brucella abortus mainly affects cattle, Brucella melitensis mainly affects goats and sheep and causes the most serious disease in people, and Brucella suis affects pigs.

Signs in animals

  • Abortion, usually in the last third of pregnancy
  • Retained afterbirth and uterine infections
  • Weak calves, kids or lambs that die soon after birth
  • Lower milk production and poor fertility
  • Swollen testicles in bulls, bucks and rams
  • Swollen knees or joints (hygromas) in cattle

Many infected animals look completely healthy but still spread the bacteria. Only a blood or milk test can tell you if your herd is infected.

How it spreads

The bacteria are shed in huge numbers in aborted foetuses, afterbirths and birth fluids. Other animals pick them up from contaminated pasture, water and bedding, by licking newborns or aborted material, through mating, and through milk. Buying an infected animal is one of the most common ways the disease reaches a new farm.

How people get infected

  • Drinking unboiled milk, or eating products such as nono or wara made from unboiled milk
  • Handling aborted foetuses, afterbirths or birth fluids with bare hands
  • Slaughtering or butchering infected animals without protection

In people, brucellosis causes fever that comes and goes, night sweats, tiredness and pain in the back and joints. It is often mistaken for malaria or typhoid. It can be treated, but needs a long course of antibiotics prescribed by a doctor.

Protect your herd

  1. Test animals before you buy them, and buy from herds with health records.
  2. Keep new animals apart for about 30 days and have them tested before they join the herd.
  3. Ask your vet to screen the herd regularly with blood tests.
  4. Separate any animal that aborts and call your vet.
  5. Wear gloves to handle aborted material and afterbirths, then bury them deep or burn them.
  6. Clean and disinfect calving and kidding areas.
  7. Do not share breeding males with herds whose status you do not know.
  8. Vaccinate young females only where your vet recommends it.

Protect your family

  • Boil all milk before drinking it or making nono, wara or other products.
  • Wear gloves when helping with births or handling abortions, and wash your hands well.
  • See a doctor about any fever that keeps coming back, and say that you work with livestock.

Have your animals aborted? Call a vet before you move or sell any animal. Rayiea can test your herd and help you build a plan to clear the disease.

This guide is general information. It is not a substitute for advice from a vet who has examined your animals.