Brucellosis: new demands in a changing world.

AIM: To provide an up-to-date overview on the role of Brucella as a possible biological (B-) agent to be used in biological warfare, biological crimes and biological terrorism (with special respect to agroterrorism) scenarios.

METHODS

An analysis of current literature and of Internet-based sources was made.

RESULTS

Brucella spp. have always been in the focus of military decision. The main reason for military research on Brucella was driven by the finding that the organism can easily be transmitted via aerosols. Confronted with the new challenge of global terrorism in the last decades of the 20th century, experts tried to evaluate the risk that Brucella spp. are used against the civilian population. Based on criteria concerning public health demands brucellosis was rated to have only a lower medical and public impact. Nevertheless, small-scale outbreaks in humans will pose problems in all those countries where first responders are usually not aware of the clinical syndrome. Countries which have eradicated brucellosis from their livestock successfully may face another severe threat: agroterrorism. Brucella spp. might be introduced intentionally into livestock (cattle, small ruminants, pigs). Undeterminable losses for a state's economy may be the result of such an attack.

CONCLUSIONS

The world has become safer in the last decades due to the intensive efforts of the global community to effectively ban the use of weapons of mass destruction. However, bio- and agroterrorism especially an attack against the agricultural infrastructure is considered to be a permanent danger.