Here at the Nature Medicine offices, we felt somewhat concerned to read the summary report of notifiable illnesses for 2010 released by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released this week. It stated that an estimated 2,403 people in the country came down with brucellosis in the past year, a 2,000% increase from the typical number of cases reported. (For 2009, for example, 115 cases were reported in the US.)

What is brucellosis? Is this serious, I wondered?

At 9:03 a.m., I hit the phones, calling the CDC and scrambling to find other experts on what is a relatively rare bacterial disease. Some forms of brucellosis can in certain circumstances be fatal, and people are known to have been exposed to the bug from drinking raw milk (which is undergoing a strange culinary revival). Thankfully, just after noon, as I was dialing yet another scientist to find out why this seemingly massive outbreak had gone unnoticed, I spotted a follow-up email from the CDC. Turns out, what we have on our hands is the epidemiological equivalent of the ‘fat finger’ that some pointed to as responsible for a drop in the Dow Jones last spring.

“I can see why that number stood out,” wrote health communications specialist Christopher Cox of the CDC. “The 2000+ number appears to be a typo that we are working to correct.”

So for all of you out there concerned that there is soon to be a crisis of epidemic proportions of this flu-like disease, the number of cases of brucellosis in 2010 is 125, in the typical range, and the cases most likely due to the handling of domestic or feral pigs.