Abstract
Brucellosis is one of the most common bacterial zoonoses worldwide affecting not only livestock and wildlife but also pets. Canine brucellosis is characterized by reproductive failure in dogs. Human Brucella canis infections are rarely reported but probably underestimated due to insufficient diagnostic surveillance. To improve diagnostics, we investigated dogs in a breeding kennel that showed clinical manifestations of brucellosis and revealed positive blood cultures. As an alternative to the time-consuming and hazardous classical identification procedures, a newly developed species-specific intact-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry analysis was applied, which allowed for rapid identification of B. canis and differentiation from closely related B. suis biovar 1. High-throughput sequencing and comparative genomics using single nucleotide polymorphism analysis clustered our isolates together with canine and human strains from various Central and South American countries in a distinct sub-lineage. Hence, molecular epidemiology clearly defined the outbreak cluster and demonstrated the endemic situation in South America. Our study illustrates that MALDI-TOF MS analysis using a validated in-house reference database facilitates rapid B. canis identification at species level. Additional whole genome sequencing provides more detailed outbreak information and leads to a deeper understanding of the epidemiology of canine brucellosis.
Highlights
Brucellosis is one of the most common bacterial zoonoses worldwide affecting livestock and wildlife and pets
Dog-to-dog and pig-to-dog transmissions of B. canis and B. suis, respectively, have been reported, but both species have been transmitted from dogs to humans
Canine brucellosis mainly caused by B. canis and by B. suis is an emerging zoonosis worldwide[18,26,27,45,46,47,48]
Summary
Brucellosis is one of the most common bacterial zoonoses worldwide affecting livestock and wildlife and pets. Human Brucella canis infections are rarely reported but probably underestimated due to insufficient diagnostic surveillance. The lack of surveillance and control of the classical Brucella species in some r egions[1] and the lack of awareness of novel and atypical species[2,3] contribute to an underestimation of the actual prevalence of brucellosis worldwide, especially in developing countries. Canine brucellosis was first described in the late 1 960s4 and Brucella canis has been identified as the most common cause of brucellosis in dogs with breeding kennels showing high prevalence rates all over the w orld[5,6,7]. The control of canine brucellosis is difficult because dogs maintain close contacts within the population and common management practices in breeding kennels favor the spreading of d isease[10]. The virulence of B. suis varies between its five biovars, with biovar 1 being highly pathogenic to humans and responsible for severe and chronic courses of the d isease[25,26,27]
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