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Brucella are highly infectious bacterial pathogens responsible for brucellosis, a frequent worldwide zoonosis. The Brucella genus has recently expanded from 6 to 11 species, all of which were associated with mammals; The natural host range recently expanded to amphibians after some reports of atypical strains from frogs. Here we describe the first in depth phenotypic and genetic characterization of a Brucella strains isolated from a frog.
Strain B was isolated from a Pac-Man frog Ceratophyrus ornate at a veterinary hospital in Texas and was initially misidentified as Ochrobactrum anthropi. We found that B belongs to a group of early-diverging brucellae that includes Brucella inopinata strain BO1 and the B. Like strain BO2, B does not possess the genes required to produce the perosamine based LPS found in classical Brucella , but has a set of genes that could encode a rhamnose based O-antigen.
Despite this, B has a very fast intracellular replication rate in both epithelial cells and macrophages. Finally, another major finding in this study is the bacterial motility observed for strains B, BO1, and BO2, which is remarkable for this bacterial genus. This study thus highlights several novel characteristics in strains belonging to an emerging group within the Brucella genus. Accurate identification tools for such atypical Brucella isolates and careful evaluation of their zoonotic potential, are urgently required.
Infection is usually transmitted to humans by direct contact, ingestion of contaminated animal products or aerosolization De Figueiredo et al. The disease is mainly characterized by abortion or sterility in animals, while in humans it is a serious febrile disease with varied symptomatology including undulant fever, headaches, muscle pain, night sweats, asthenia, and depression Moreno, Infection often requires hospitalization and at least 6 weeks of antibiotic treatment; if left untreated, patients can develop serious complications such as neurobrucellosis or endocarditis.
