Brucellosis Brucellosis Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever and Mediterranean fever. "Brucella" species are small, gram-negative, nonmotile, nonspore-forming, rod-shaped (coccobacilli) bacteria. They function as facultative intracellular parasites, causing chronic disease, which usually persists for life. Four species infect humans: "B. abortus", "B. canis", "B. melitensis", and "B. suis". "B. abortus" is less virulent than "B. melitensis" and is primarily a disease of cattle. "B. canis" affects dogs. "B. melitensis" is the most virulent and
Milk kinship Arab folk-analogy that breast milk is supposed to be “transformed male semen” that arises from Hertiers Somatic Scheme. There is no evidence that Arabs ever considered a mother's milk to be ‘transformed sperm’. Another suggested analogy is that breast milk was a refinement of uterine blood. It is also suggested since that milk is of the woman, her moods and dispositions are transferred through the breast milk. Parkes mentions that milk-kinship was “further endorsed as a canonical impediment to marriage by several eastern Christian churches”. This indicates that this procedure was widely practiced among numerous religious communities, not just Islamic