Clinical features of 82 patients with brucellosis in Liaoning Province / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To identify the clinical features of patients with brucellosis in Liaoning Province in recent 5 years, and to improve the diagnostic level of the disease.Methods The clinical data including epidemiology, clinical features, laboratory data and diagnosis of 82 hospitalized patients who were diagnosed with brucellosis in the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University from 2011 to 2015 were collected and reviewed retrospectively.Results The majority of the 82 patients were middle-aged (45-59 years old) (47.6%) and male gender (63.4%).Fever (90.2%), muscle and joint pain (61.0%), hepatosplenomegaly (36.6%), lymphadenopathy (24.4%) and weight lose (32.9%) were the main complaints.The peripheral leucocyte counts were usually normal (70.7%).C-reactive protein (81.3%), procalcitonin (81.8%) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (64.2%) increased in most cases.The results of the serum agglutination test in 67 patients were all positive (100.0%).The pathogen isolation was conducted in 60 patients and 49 patients were positive for Brucella species.Among them, 35(71.3%) isolates were identified as Brucella melitensis.A total of 90.2%(74/82) cases were firstly diagnosed with fever of unknown origin and were hospitalized.Misdiagnosis accounted for 52.4(43/82)%.Conclusions Contact history with cow and sheep should be inquired thoroughly in patients with clinical manifestations of fever, muscle and joint pain and hepatosplenomegaly.Pathogen isolation, agglutination test and other specific tests should be performed as soon as possible to diagnose the disease early.