Which public health measure is most effective at reducing brucellosis in people?

• A. Vaccination of cattle
• B. Boiling milk
• C. Pasteurization of dairy
• D. Ultrafiltration of milk

Answer: (C)

Brucellosis mainly reaches people through consuming contaminated dairy, so the most effective public health measure is one that directly removes the risk from the milk supply. Pasteurization achieves this by heating milk to a level that reliably inactivates Brucella bacteria, along with many other pathogens, before the product reaches consumers. This creates a standardized, scalable safety step across the dairy industry, dramatically reducing the chance of illness across the population.

Boiling milk could also kill the bacteria, but it isn’t practical as a universal, industry-wide control and is inconsistent in real-world use; some products from raw milk sources would still bypass it. Ultrafiltering can reduce bacterial load but isn’t as widely implemented or universally validated for complete safety in all dairy products. Vaccinating cattle helps lower infection in animals, which is important, but it doesn’t guarantee safe milk for all products or all regions, whereas pasteurization provides direct, reliable protection to people regardless of herd vaccination status.