Brucellosis on the rise in Bosnia and Herzegovina

28/05/2008

Although a brucellosis epidemic is raging across the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, measures to prevent its spread are not in place.

By Jusuf Ramadanovic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo -- 28/05/08

Humans can contract brucellosis by eating unpasteurised cheese or milk. [AFP]

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is experiencing an epidemic of brucellosis and must keep the disease from spreading among humans and animals, warned students of the University of Sarajevo’s veterinary department in April at a round table titled "Brucellosis in BiH".

Brucellosis, also called undulant fever, or Malta fever in humans, is a highly contagious disease spread by contact with infected animals, eating raw meat or unpasteurised cheese or drinking infected milk. In humans, brucellosis can cause symptoms similar to those of flu, including fever, sweats, headaches, back pains and physical weakness. Severe infections of the central nervous system or lining of the heart may occur. According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the mortality rate is usually less than 2% and is usually associated with endocarditis.

"Under current treatment, humans recover pretty quickly; however, doctors always emphasise that there is a possibility of relapse -- the return of the symptoms if immunity weakens or if there is new contact with the disease," explained Professor Tarik Bajrovic of the University of Sarajevo's veterinary department.

Last year, 500 people died of brucellosis in BiH. Authorities registered 104 new cases in the first three months of this year. This recent outbreak affected veterinary workers and cattle raisers most. Experts say the epidemic is out of control. The system for protection against contagious livestock diseases in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) functions poorly and is cause for alarm.

Conference attendees emphasised that authorities had declared an all-out brucellosis epidemic in some cantons of FBiH.

At a press conference following the discussion, Muamer Dervisevic, a veterinary student, said that brucellosis has been present in BiH for an extended period. He added that it spread after the 1990s conflict, primarily due to failure to regulate cattle imports and nomadic cattle raising.

In that conflict's aftermath, the prevalence of the disease, previously unknown in BiH, worsened dramatically. In early 2000, health authorities detected early cases among the owners of "donated" cattle. Since then, the disease has spread.

FBiH's chief veterinary inspector, Sulejman Hasimbegovic, is among those who say brucellosis in BiH is out of control. He says the government inadequately implemented measures to eradicate the disease. The necessary laws are not in place either. The situation, in Hasimbegovic's words, is alarming.

By contrast, in the EU, brucellosis is almost entirely eradicated. The veterinary system in BiH may be facing one of its most difficult tasks -- somehow shielding the public from diseases even though adequate protection is nonexistent.