VA Disability Rating for Brucellosis (DC 6316)
Diagnostic Code 6316 · 38 CFR §4.88b
What Is It?
Brucellosis is contracted from infected animals or contaminated dairy products. The VA uses the General Rating Formula. Both the initial diagnosis and recurrence must be confirmed by culture, serologic testing, or both. Residuals including meningitis, liver, spleen, and musculoskeletal conditions are rated under appropriate body system codes.
Rating Criteria
| Rating | Criteria |
|---|---|
| 100% | Active brucellosis confirmed by culture or serologic testing with systemic symptoms during treatment. |
| 0% | Resolved. Residuals including meningitis, liver, spleen, and musculoskeletal conditions are rated under appropriate body system codes. |
Evidence Needed
Blood cultures or serological tests confirming Brucella. Service records documenting exposure. Treatment records. Documentation of relapses. Post-treatment organ evaluations.
C&P Exam Tips
Document exposure history. Report all relapse episodes. Describe ongoing joint pain, fatigue, or fevers. Bring current serological results. Mention organ complications.
How to File
File under DC 6316 with lab confirmation and exposure documentation. File residual organ damage separately. For veterans with a qualifying period of service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations, or in Afghanistan on or after September 19, 2001, 38 CFR 3.317(c) presumes service connection for brucellosis that became manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of separation from that service — on that route you do not have to prove an in-service event, only the qualifying service and the diagnosis. Outside that service or that window, the evidence this page describes is what carries the claim. 38 CFR 3.317(d) lists eighteen long-term health effects potentially associated with brucellosis, among them arthritis, spondylitis, chronic meningitis and meningoencephalitis, granulomatous hepatitis, uveitis, sensorineural hearing loss and Guillain-Barre syndrome, none of them with a time period attached, and where a veteran presumed service connected under paragraph (c) is diagnosed with one of them at any time, VA will request a medical opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the infection caused it.
Common Mistakes
Common mistakes include not documenting relapses, failing to claim joint or spine damage separately, not connecting deployment to livestock exposure, and not claiming organ residuals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can brucellosis relapse years later?
Yes. Brucella bacteria can persist and reactivate. Prolonged antibiotic treatment and monitoring are important.
How were veterans exposed?
Through handling infected livestock, consuming unpasteurized dairy overseas, and rarely through biological defense research.