Mucosal bacterial dissemination in a rhesus macaque model of experimental brucellosis.

Animals were experimentally infected with Brucella melitensis via aerosol. B. melitensis was cultured from the saliva and vaginal vault of infected animals, corresponding to bacterial dissemination in other target tissues. This is the first report of bacterial dissemination to these mucosal surfaces in a non-human primate model of brucellosis.