New scenarios for brucella suis and brucella melitensis

Abstract

Purpose of Review: We pretend to highlight the most important advances reached in the last few years in the biology of Brucella suis and Brucella melitensis and focus attention on new tools for the comprehension, prevention and control of these zoonotic agents. Recent Findings: Important progress lately done in the field of pathogenesis is presented here. This involves current studies on proteins involved in the survival and antigenic structure of Brucella, as well as the findings of how Brucella has achieved modifications in order to adapt, replicate, survive and modulate the host´s immune system, improve the knowledge of the performance of these bacteria. Summary: Consequently, better approaches for vaccinology and diagnostic techniques are developed. Relevant epidemiological issues based on changes in the highly conserved genome of these bacteria will be valuable tools to describe outbreaks and disease status, along with risk factors that would otherwise be difficult to analyze.