Spontaneous Brucella canis infection in beagles: bacteriological and serological studies.

Abstract

Fifteen beagles, 13 males and 2 females, from a breeder colony suspected of Brucella canis (B. canis) infection were autopsied, and isolation of B. canis from various organs and detection of anti-B. canis agglutinin in their sera were attempted. B. canis was isolated from the spleen, lymph nodes, prostate and epididymis at a high frequency and from blood, testis and urinary bladder of some cases. Five of 15 dogs having been treated with tetracycline were shown to harbour smaller number of the organisms than the non-treated ones. Most of the sera showed high agglutinin titres to B. canis, and the presence of incomplete antibody was confirmed in some sera showing only feeble agglutination. Treatment with cortisone or antilymphocytic serum failed to produce recurrent disease in 12 persistently infected males.