Current status, progress and suggestions regarding prevention and control of brucellosis in China

Abstract

Brucellosis is a neglected zoonosis, which not only endangers health of the people but also affects the development of animal husbandry, tourism and international trade as well as food safety. In the past two decades, great progress has been achieved in the prevention and control of both human and animal brucellosis, however, tremendous challenges still exists in the control and eradication of brucellosis, especially in the developing countries. In recent years, along with the increase of livestock breeding and animal or related product trade, human contacts with livestock has increased, resulting in the expansion of brucellosis endemic areas. In China, the brucellosis endemic areas are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia and adjacent provinces, which might be explained by a lot of reasons, such as the development of animal husbandry, emerging and re-emerging of brucellosis endemic area and the movement of infection sources and degree of paid-attention. This paper summarizes the current status and progress in brucellosis prevention/control and surveillance in China and puts forward suggestions for the future improvement.