Research progress in live attenuated Brucella vaccine development.

Brucella spp. are facultative intracellular bacteria that cause brucellosis, which is a globally occurring zoonotic disease that is characterized by abortion in domestic animals and undulant fever, arthritis, endocarditis, and meningitis in humans. There are currently no licensed vaccines against brucellosis for human use, and only a few licensed live Brucella vaccines are available for use in animals. However, the available animal vaccines may cause abortion and are associated with lower protection rates in animals and higher virulence in humans. Much research has been performed recently to develop novel Brucella vaccines for the prevention and control of animal brucellosis. This article discusses the approaches and strategies for novel live attenuated vaccine development.