Undulant Fever as a Public Health Problem.

Malta fever in man was first described in the United States by Craig, 1 in 1903. In Europe, the relation of the disease in man and in goats had been recognized for a long time, with Brucella melitensis as the infecting organism. Craig says: "There are no pathognomonic symptoms of Malta fever. The symptoms observed are so inconstant and confusing that no one of them can be said to be typical of the disease. A differential diagnosis is almost impossible in the majority of cases without the aid of the microscope and the serum test." A multitude of names have hence been used to describe the disease; according to Keefer, 2 "undulant fever or febris undulans (from the wavelike accessions of fever); Malta, Maltese, Mediterranean, Gibraltar or "rock," Neopolitan and Cyprus fever (from the geographic distribution); slow, mountain continued, goat fever (in Texas and New Mexico); Mediterranean phthisis (from the