The epidemiological features and clinical analysis of 119 brucellosis cases / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment effect of brucella in=nfection, and to provide practical foundation and valuable experience for clinical treatment and prevention of brucellosis.Methods One hundred and nineteen patients with brucella infection hospitalized at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University from January 1st 2011 to July 30th 2011 were enrolled.Clinical data including gender, age, contact history with bovine and clinical manifestations such as fever, sweating and joint and muscle pain were extracted.Diagnosis and treatment effect of these patients were all recorded.The epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations were analyzed.Results The majority of patients were middle-aged male, and the number of male cases were 2.5 times of female cases.The brucella infections were observed all seasons in Lanzhou, while most cases were observed between May and July.A total of 78 cases had clear animal contact history.Among them, 53 cases (44.54%) had contact history with bovine.Main clinical manifestations included fever (n=84, 70.59%), muscle and joint pain (n=93, 78.15%), sweating (n=52, 43.70%), fatigue (n=29, 24.37%), and the most common clinical symptoms was joint and muscle pain.Blood routine test showed neutropenia (n=25, 21.01%), increase in blood sedimentation (n=34, 28.57%) and blood coagulation dysfunction (n=30, 25.21%).Liver function examination showed increase in ALT (n=37, 31.09%) and AST (n=43, 36.13%).Other examination showed that splenomegaly (n=28, 23.52%) was the most common finding, and liver diffuse lesions (n=22, 18.49%) ranked second.The most common drugs were doxycycline (n=79, 66.39%), rifampin (n=60, 50.42%) and cephalosporins (n=50, 42.02%).Among them, 45 cases (37.82%) were treated with combination therapy of rifampin and doxycycline, and 31 cases were treated with combination therapy of doxycycline and rifapentine or cephalosporins.Totally 112 cases (94.12%) recovered.Conclusions The majority of patients with brucellosis are male.The clinical manifestations of brucellosis are varied.Clinicians should pay attention to identify and prevent misdiagnosis.The timely and effective treatment should be provided according to patients' conditions.The relevant departments should also strengthen supervision and education of brucellosis.