ABSTRACT
Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonotic infections in the world. Human infections are the result of direct exposure to infected animals or ingestion of unprocessed dairy products. While Brucella sp. infection has largely been eliminated from commercial cattle and swine with aggressive vaccination, there is a significant prevalence of Brucella sp. infection in the expanding population of feral swine in the US. We report the surgical treatment of a ruptured mycotic aneurysm of the abdominal aorta due to Brucella suis in a woman living in a rural community with a large population of feral swine. Vascular surgeons should be aware that brucellosis can result in arterial infection and should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with a history of exposure to feral swine or the ingestion of unprocessed dairy products.
Subject(s)
Brucella suis , Brucellosis , Swine Diseases , Female , Animals , Swine , Humans , Cattle , Animals, Wild , Swine Diseases/epidemiology , Treatment Outcome , Brucellosis/epidemiology , Brucellosis/veterinaryABSTRACT
IMPACT STATEMENT: This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of extracellular matrix protein (ECM) gene expression combined with echocardiographic analyses of heart functional parameters in the murine heart during pregnancy and the early postpartum period. Our findings show regulation of all Timp, selected Mmps, and Col1a1, Col3a1, and Col8a1 mRNA levels with reproductive status, with the greatest number of significant changes occurring in the early postpartum period. Left ventricle cardiac diastolic parameters were the first to change during pregnancy and remained elevated postpartum, whereas systolic parameters were increased in late pregnancy and began to recover during the first week postpartum. These novel findings indicate that although some ECM genes are elevated during late pregnancy, that the postpartum period is a time of robust altered ECM gene expression. These studies provide a basis for examining ECM proteins and their activities in the normal pregnant and postpartum heart and in models of postpartum cardiomyopathy.
