ABSTRACT
Brucella ovis causes a chronic disease of sheep characterized by testicular alterations and subsequent low fertility of rams and occasional abortions in ewes. In addition, increased perinatal mortality is frequently reported in infected flocks. Although there are no exact data it has been estimated by simulation models that the disease causes substantial economic losses to the sheep industry in infected flocks without control programs. 1
The disease has been reported in New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., Argentina, the U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and South Africa, and probably occurs in other sheep-raising countries.
