BRUCELLOSIS
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Also known as undulant fever, Malta
fever, Gibralter fever, Bang's disease, or Mediterranean fever,
brucellosis is most likely to occur among those individuals who
regularly work with livestock. The disease originated in domestic
livestock but was passed on to wild animal species, including the
elk and buffalo of the western United States. In humans, brucellosis
continues to be spread via unpasteurized milk obtained from infected
cows or through contact with the discharges of cattle and goats
during miscarriage. In areas of the world where milk is not
pasteurized, for example in Latin America and the Mediterranean, the
disease is still contracted by ingesting unpasteurized dairy
products. However, in the United States, the widespread
pasteurization of milk and nearly complete eradication of the
infection from cattle has reduced the number of human cases from
6,500 in 1940 to about 70 in 1994. |
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