Abstract

BALDO, Maria João; VALE, Fátima; CARDOSO, Adriano  and  PINHO, Inês. Trends in Human Brucellosis: A 12-year Study of Admissions in a District Hospital. Medicina Interna [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.3, pp.191-196. ISSN 0872-671X.  https://doi.org/10.24950/rspmi/256/2017.

Introduction:Human brucellosis can present various clinical forms and potentially lead to an important social-economic burden. High level of clinical suspicion and appropriate laboratory testing interpretation are essential for the diagnosis. The aim of this study was to review the admissions attributable to brucellosis in a public hospital of an endemic region of Portugal. Methods:Retrospective observational study of consecutive hospital admissions with a discharge diagnosis of brucellosis between 2000 and 2012, by the analysis of epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and therapeutic features. Results:A total of 36 patients were included. The percentage of male patients was 69.4%, with mean age of 52.9 years old and 72.2% presented a risk factor exposure for brucellosis. We found 14 admissions in 2000 and zero admissions in 2012. The most reported frequent symptoms were fever (72%), myalgia (58.3%) and asthenia (47.2%). The rose bengal test was positive for the majority of the tested patients (91.7%). On the other hand, only one patient had a positive culture for brucellosis. The disease was essentially acute (75%) and focalized (69%). When focalized, osteoarticular involvement was the most frequent presentation (37%). In univariate analysis, patients who relapsed (16.6%) showed no significant association with any of the epidemiologic, clinical, laboratory or therapeutic features (p > 0.05). Antibiotic regimen most often prescribed was rifampicin plus doxycycline (55.5%). Conclusion:In our study, hospital admissions due to brucellosis dropped dramatically between 2000 and 2012, which shows an optimistic sign of disease control. Acute and focalized forms of the disease were the most frequent manifestations of this zoonosis that is still a challenge for clinicians.

Keywords : Brucellosis/diagnosis; Brucellosis/epidemiology; Brucellosis/therapy.

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