In 2000 14.0 million euro will be spent on the eradication of brucellosis in sheep and goats in the southern Member States of Europe where the disease occurs. This disease causes Malta fever in humans, a debilitating and often fatal condition, which has plagued the Mediterranean region since Bbiblical times. Bovine Brucellosis brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis are also known to be possibly transmitted to humans so that significant sums will be used to combat the remaining cases of these diseases (14.3 and 8.2 million euro respectively) and also for enzootic bovine leucosis (3.5 million euro).
The infection can be caught by humans drinking unpasteurised milk or by being in contact with infected animals and is one of the diseases being explored because of its value in biological warfare.