Description
Facultative intracellular Brucella infect and survive inside macrophages, and the outcome of macrophage-Brucella interaction is a basis for establishment of a chronic Brucella infection. The majority of Brucella are killed at the early infection stage. A subpopulation of virulent Brucella strains is instead trafficked to an intracellular replicative phagosome, and are resistant to further attack and begin to multiply dramatically. Virulent Brucella also inhibit macrophage apoptosis that in turn favors pathogen survival and replication.