Epidemiology of bovine brucellosis in the Mexicali Valley, Mexico: literature review of disease-associated factors.

The world literature was searched to document the variables known to affect the initiation, spread, maintenance, and/or control of bovine brucellosis. Each variable was classified into 1 of 3 categories, depending upon whether it was related to the animal population, to management, or to the biology of the disease. These variables were documented and categorized as the initial step for a quantitative path analysis on the epidemiology of bovine brucellosis in a defined geographic area in northern Mexico.