Susceptibility of Avian Species to Brucella Infection: A Hypothesis-Driven Study

Abstract

Brucellosis is a highly contagious bacterial disease affecting a wide range of animals, as well as humans. The existence of the clinically diagnosed brucellosis in avian species is controversially discussed. In the current study, we set to summarize the current knowledge on the presence of brucellae in avian species. Anti-Brucella antibodies were monitored in different avian species using classical diagnostic tools. Experimental infection of chicken embryos induced the disease and resulted in the development of specific lesions. Few empirical studies have been performed in adult poultry. However, the isolation of brucellae from naturally-infected chickens has not been possible yet.

The seroprevalence of brucellosis and molecular characterization of Brucella species circulating in the beef cattle herds in Albania

“…Brucellosis is a highly contagious bacterial zoonoses causing huge economic losses globally. The infection of a wide range of specific and nonspecific hosts extends plays a significant role in worldwide distribution of the disease [23]. An archaeological report assumed that brucellosis has been endemic in Albania since at least the Middle Ages.…”

Expanding the host range: infection of a reptilian host (Furcifer pardalis) by an atypical Brucella strain

“…The core has 647,357 amino acid residues/bp per genome, 11,005,069 in total. GenBank accession numbers are given in parentheses; bar, 0.01 nucleotide substitutions per site; isolation sources are indicated as follows: mammals (blue), reptile (red), amphibians (black), fish (green) of one molecular proof in an avian blood sample of a migratory bird, but without any clinical signs (Najdenski et al 2018;Wareth et al 2020). However, since chicken embryos are susceptible and pathologies do occur depending on infection strains, brucellosis in birds needs further evaluation (Wareth et al 2020).…”

“…The results from this study now confirm our hypothesis that all three cold-blooded vertebrate classes are susceptible to Brucella infection. This picture is far less clear in birds, where occasionally anti- Brucella antibodies have been found, but more in depth studies are lacking, especially with respect to direct detection and clinical disease due to these microorganisms (Wareth et al 2020 ). No natural Brucella infections have been described in adult birds to date with the exemption of one molecular proof in an avian blood sample of a migratory bird, but without any clinical signs (Najdenski et al 2018 ; Wareth et al 2020 ).…”

“…This picture is far less clear in birds, where occasionally anti- Brucella antibodies have been found, but more in depth studies are lacking, especially with respect to direct detection and clinical disease due to these microorganisms (Wareth et al 2020 ). No natural Brucella infections have been described in adult birds to date with the exemption of one molecular proof in an avian blood sample of a migratory bird, but without any clinical signs (Najdenski et al 2018 ; Wareth et al 2020 ). However, since chicken embryos are susceptible and pathologies do occur depending on infection strains, brucellosis in birds needs further evaluation (Wareth et al 2020 ).…”

“…No natural Brucella infections have been described in adult birds to date with the exemption of one molecular proof in an avian blood sample of a migratory bird, but without any clinical signs (Najdenski et al 2018 ; Wareth et al 2020 ). However, since chicken embryos are susceptible and pathologies do occur depending on infection strains, brucellosis in birds needs further evaluation (Wareth et al 2020 ).…”