Brucellosis in heifers weaned from seropositive dams

Fifty-six heifers were weaned from dams that were card-test positive for brucellosis. Forty-four dams were positive by rivanol and complement-fixation tests and Brucella abortus field strain was isolated from 14. Numbers of expected pregnancies following natural breeding and numbers of viable calves produced were not reduced in the heifers. Persistent B abortus infection was documented in 2 of 37 parturient heifers from reactor dams. The frequency of infection was 1 of 10 in strain 19-vaccinated heifers, and 1 of 27 in nonvaccinated heifers. The 2 persistently infected heifers had atypical serologic reaction patterns before normal parturitions.