Brucella isolated in humans and animals in Latin America from 1968 to 2006.

We report a retrospective analysis of 1933 Brucella strains isolated from humans and animals in Latin American countries between 1968 and 1991 and in Argentina between 1994 and 2006. During the first period 50% of strains were from humans, mainly from Argentina, Mexico and Peru but, while B. suis was the main cause of infection in Argentina, B. melitensis was responsible for most infections in the other countries. In Argentina in the later years, B. melitensis and B. suis were observed more frequently than in the first period while isolation of B. abortus decreased. Of 145 B. melitensis human isolates, eight gave susceptibility patterns to dyes and penicillin and two were B. melitensis biovar 3, which has never been reported in animals. Forty-six percent of B. suis isolated were resistant to dyes which is an atypical feature in this species.