Brucellosis prophylaxis

The recommended treatment is doxycycline (200 mg/day) plus rifampin (600 mg/day) for six weeks. An alternative effective treatment is six weeks of doxycycline (200 mg/day) plus streptomycin (1 gm/day) for three weeks. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole given four to six weeks is less effective. In 5 to f 0 percent of cases, there may be a relapse or treatment failure. Regarding prophylaxis, killed and live attenuated human vaccines are available in many countries but are considered of unproven efficacy. There tends to be no information on the use of antibiotics for prophylaxis against human brucellosis. 

Tetracyclines remain the agents of choice in rickettsial infections, and are also used in chlamydial, vibrio, mycoplasmal and spirochaetal infections, brucellosis and the management of chronic bronchitis and acne. They are used in combination with other agents in the treatment of malaria and amoe-biasis, and doxycycline is used for prophylaxis of malaria. 

Apart from its main use in tuberculosis, it is also used in leprosy and prophylaxis of meningitis due to H. influenzae and meningococci. It is also used with doxycycline in treatment of brucellosis. 

Tetracyclines are classified as broad-spectrum antibiotics obtained from soil acti-nomycetes. All tetracyclines are slightly bitter solids and are weakly soluble in water. Although tetracyclines develop organism resistance, they are the drugs of first choice in venereal disease, atypical pneumonia, cholera, brucellosis, and plague. Tetracyclines also are used in urinary tract infections, amebiasis, acne, and as prophylaxis against meningitis. 

Brucellosis is a very worrying disease in all countries, Cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats are commonly infected and in turn infect the men who handle them also whole families can be stricken through drinking the unsterilized milk of an infected animal. Treatment with tetracycline is effective in Man, but prophylaxis still presents a problem. This disease is a typical zoonosis, i.e. a disease transmitted to Man by animals (there are many zoonoses). 

Some years ago, brucellosis was a common disease in farm animals, due to three Brucella organisms B. suis (pigs), B. abortus (cattle) and B. melitensis (sheep and goats). In recent years, the incidence of the disease has dramatically decreased due to extensive animal prophylaxis programs, including elimination of infected animals and vaccination of healthy ones it is well controlled in many European countries but is still common in some parts of the world. 

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