Theodorides J
Hist Sci Med. 1996;30(1):87-90.
Malta fever (brucellosis) is an infectious disease of cattle (chiefly goats) which can infect man. Although the disease is not limited to Malta, occurring also in other mediterranean countries as well as in Asia and America, it was originally described in 1863 in Malta where the responsible bacteria (Brucella melitensis) was discovered in 1887 by D. Bruce. Ten years later Wright & Smith (1897) showed that the agglutination test originally established for typhoidic patients could be used for the diagnosis of Malta fever. Finally the conclusions of the Commission for the investigation of Mediterranean fever (1905-1907) are briefly recalled.
马耳他热（布鲁氏菌病）是一种牛（主要是山羊）的传染病，可传染给人类。尽管该病并非仅限于马耳他，在其他地中海国家以及亚洲和美洲也有发生，但它最初于1863年在马耳他被描述，1887年D. 布鲁斯在那里发现了致病细菌（马尔他布鲁氏菌）。十年后，赖特和史密斯（1897年）表明，最初为伤寒患者建立的凝集试验可用于诊断马耳他热。最后简要回顾了地中海热调查委员会（1905 - 1907年）的结论。
