Brucellosis

Adult Vaccination Program Research

Abstract

Now, in Florida we have found that the probability of having brucellosis infection is completely dependent upon the size of the herd. As the herds become larger, the percentage of those herds having brucellosis increases. In fact, I will quote you a rather startling statistic and that is that in 1972 in our dairy herds we had approximately 4400 reactors. In 1976, this number had increased to almost 8400 reactors. Puerto Rico, another area where I frequently travel, has a somewhat similar situation although the herds are not as large there. Nevertheless, they do import a large number of animals from the states and again most of these are of course coming down unvaccinated as calves. In Puerto Rico in 1972 in the dairy herds there were 738 reactors. In 1976 this number had increased to 2400. So you can see what has happened then in recent years in Florida and Puerto Rico, and again we believe it is largely related to the increasing herd size and, of course, the fact that most of the animals coming in are fully susceptible to the disease.