[Brucellosis outbreak in Treviso province caused by infected cheese from an endemic area]

Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonoses in the world. Its distribution has changed in recent years due to socioeconomic factors and international travel. In Italy its trend has followed the international pattern, albeit with major differences between the north and south of the country. In northern Italy brucellosis is import-related and rarely laboratory acquired. We describe an outbreak of five cases of brucella infection occurred in Treviso province during August 2005. All the patients had a positive Wright test and two of them had a positive blood culture for Brucella abortus. The source of infection was cheese from an area of Italy where brucellosis is endemic. All the people who consumed the cheese had clinical and laboratory signs of brucellosis. All of them received six weeks of rifampin and doxycycline treatment; none developed any complication or relapse during the two follow-up years. In conclusion, brucellosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis of fever of unknown origin even in countries where it is not endemic; it is necessary not only to rule out travels to endemic regions through clinical history, but also the consumption of infected foods imported from such areas.