Brucellosis in Feral Swine

Abstract

Some 255 feral hogs were serologically tested for Brucella titers at a location in the lower coastal plain of South Carolina. Eighteen percent were reactors. The organism was cultured from lymph node tissues in one 3+ years old boar and identified as Brucella suis biotype 1. Prevalence of sero-positive animals increased with age. There were no important differences between sexes.

Feral swine brucellosis in the United States and prospective genomic techniques for disease epidemiology

“…Brucellosis has been eliminated from domestic swine herds in the United States (9 CFR 78:43 2011b; Federal Register §76:97 2011a), so the main reservoir for B. suis biovar 1 in the U.S. is feral swine; the same is true in Australia. In contrast, the main European reservoir of B. suis biovar 2 consists of wild boar (Wood et al, 1976;Pavlov and Edwards, 1995;Godfroid and Kasbohrer, 2002;Ruiz-Fons et al, 2006;Olsen, 2010). Feral swine in the U.S. are likely descendants of domestic swine, European wild boar, and hybrids of the two (Mayer and Brisbin, 1991).…”

Zoonosis Due to <i>Bruella suis</i> with Special Reference to Infection in Dogs (Carnivores): A Brief Review

“…The serological results were further confirmed by isolation of B. suis biotype 1 from the lymph node of an affected feral pig. A trend of increasing incidence with age is noted suggesting that the pathogen is circulating among the population [14]. In Croatia [15] B. suis biovar 2 was isolated from 58% of swine and 62.5% of aborted piglets.…”

The feral hog at Dye Creek Ranch, California

“…All of the samples proved negative. Eighteen percent of feral hogs sampled in South Carolina showed 331 positive reactions for brucellosis (Wood et al, 1976).…”