Three years ago,a dear friend of mine was ill for a long time. He and his wife lived on the campo, near a sheep/goat farm and he developed the strangest symptoms that left the doctors baffled. He had debilitating aches and pains, a guaranteed fever every evening, loss of energy. He felt awful.
This man was clever. A retired teacher in his fifties and of previously good health, he knew there was something wrong, but test after test came back negative when he visited the doctor's surgery. Meanwhile his life, over a period of months, continued its downward spiral. Feeling permanently ill, he barely had the energy to get out of bed of a morning. The doctors had no answers for him, so he did the modern thing.
He looked it up on the Internet.
Hours and hours he spent googling his symptoms, but he kept coming back to the same thing.
Sign and symptoms of brucellosis
- sweating
- fever that rises in the afternoon and falls again
- muscular aches and pains
- flu-like symptoms
- headache
- chills
- fatigue
Check.
Finally, deciding he definitely had the symptoms of brucellosis, he went back to the doctor yet again, ready to explain why he felt he may have this disease that is common in animals, even though there was no sign nor word of an infection present in the nearby farm. Coming as he did from the UK, he no doubt was scared stiff to be showing the signs and symptoms of a disease long since eradicated.
Doubtless though, he would have read that the disease was still prevalent in Spain, despite its eradication form many European countries.
Locum doctor
As luck would it, the day he went armed with this info, a locum was covering for the village doctor. The locum listened to what he had to say, but refused to acknowledge the possibility that he had this rare disease. She was interested enough to send him for yet more blood tests, but refused to tick the box asking the lab specifically for a test for brucellosis.
After handing him the signed form, she dismissed him, instructing him to hand the form to the surgery receptionist. On the way, he whipped out a pen and ticked the box for a brucellosis test.
OK, we know its not exactly ethical, but needs must.
brucella melitensis
Hospitalised
Next thing he knew, he was being called to attend the hospital immediately, where his confirmed diagnosis of brucellosis needed urgent treatment.
This man had to go through hospitalisation and multiple drug therapies and is still under medical care.
Everyone in authority was shocked, because brucellosis is a notifiable disease, and none had been notified.
And this is where the story gets interesting.
How He Caught it
It would seem now that yes the nearby farm knew something was wrong, and that they knew before my friend took ill, as they had decided to clean and disinfect all the bath-troughs they had at the foot of their fields which supplied their animals with food/water and my friend, being a friendly neighbour, and his wife, had mucked into help.
This was before he took ill, and probably how he picked up his infection, as the tiny brucella bacteria when present are easily transferable through a break in the skin.
His wife suffered no ill effects afterwards. Possibly she never had a skin abrasion at the time through which a transference could occur.
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Notifiable Disease
The hospitals, the doctors, every medical personnel my friend had asked for help to had not suspected brucellosis because they had received no reports of an outbreak in the area, and obviously hadn't received one for a long time else it would be something they would still be looking out for.
Yet this farm had an outbreak that they chose not to report? Did they know what was wrong? Had they had a previous outbreak? The evidence seems to suggest they knew what they had on their hands, but chose not to involve the Health Inspectors who would put their animals down and leave them with nothing. There is a compensation scheme in place, which would have allowed them to start again so I have no idea why this option wasn't taken.
With a confirmed human case of brucellosis, the authorities had no choice but to inspect the farm premises, and on discovering infected animals, order and undertake their execution in order to eradicate the possibility of spread of the disease.
Living nearby, my friends were in a position to see that some animals were secreted away on the day the Health Inspectors arrived to commence their eradication program.
The Alcalde
In the months following the confirmation of my friend's diagnosis, not only did he find himself ignored by the people in the neighbouring farm (with whom previously he had had a good relationship) but he was ordered to attend a meeting with thealcalde himself. The alcalde, for those non-Spanish readers here, is the epitome of power in local politics. While alcalde literally translates as 'mayor' or 'council leader' here in Spain they have so much more autonomous power than any mayor in the UK. They have the right to give planning permission for things that in other countries would belong to a higher authority. They have the final word in everyone to do with a locality. It has often been said that becoming an alcalde (and it is a democratic vote that puts an alcalde in power) brings out the worst and the greediest of human nature, the alcalde being entitled to a percentage of all planning application costs granted.
I'm trying to avoid saying they are corrupt, but all bets are off on that score.
My friend went along to the meeting with the alcalde, only to find that not only did the alcalde shout at him in Spanish with a finger being pointed in his face (very rude in any language) but the interpreter refused to interpret!
Part of what he could understand was the alcalde demanding proof that he had in fact been diagnosed with brucellosis, and suggesting he could have picked it up elsewhere and not in his locality.
Repeat infection
Now, three years later, the farm is showing signs of a repeat infection. Vans have been arriving with men in space suits taking infected carcases away.
But there is no word in the community.
No advice on what to avoid, nor what areas walkers should stay away from.
Yet the brucella bacteria, when present, can become airborne and a human can become infected simply by breathing it in.
When Britain was infected with Foot and Mouth, we all saw TV coverage of DEFRA inspectors closing down farms, disinfecting footpaths, burning carcasses.
We saw footage of farmers crying, having lost the entire livestock that they had built up since their grandfathers day.
Foot and Mouth didn't even affect humans. Brucellosis can and does and is so much more serious. Yet this is being hushed up, no doubt to protect the pockets of a few.
