noun
1. : brucellosis in domestic animals characterized by abortion:
a. : bovine brucellosis caused by a brucella ( Brucella abortus ), contracted by ingestion, by copulation, or possibly by wound infection, and characterized by proliferation of the organism in the fetal membranes inducing abortion, subsequent invasion of the regional lymph nodes and udder with the formation of chronic foci of infection, and sometimes reinvasion of the uterus when pregnancy is reestablished, though a degree of local immunity usually appears after one or more abortions, an affected cow carrying her calf to term even though retaining a chronic brucella infection outside the uterus
b. : any brucellosis of swine or goats having a somewhat similar course to bovine brucellosis but usually caused by different brucellae
2. : any of several contagious or infectious diseases of domestic animals marked by abortion (as vibrionic abortion of sheep or an acute salmonellosis of the mare)