Clinical feature and laboratory analysis of 14 cases of human brucellosis in Shenzhen / 中华地方病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the clinical manifestations and test results of brucellosis cases, provide basis for clinical and laboratory differential diagnosis of brucellosis.Methods:Using retrospective analysis method, the cases of brucellosis confirmed by the Microbiology Laboratory of the Laboratory of Shenzhen People's Hospital from December 2015 to August 2019 were selected as the survey subjects, and the clinical data of the survey subjects were collected, including epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, treatment and prognosis.Results:Of the 14 patients, 9 were males and 5 were females. The median age of the patients was 42 years old (ranged 23 - 62 years old). Seventy-eight point six percent (11/14) of the patients were firstly diagnosed from April to September; 78.6% (11/14) of the patients had a history of contact with raw beef, mutton, pork and sheep placenta. The main clinical symptoms of brucellosis were fever (100.0%, 14/14) and arthralgia (42.9%, 6/14). The most common complication was arthritis (3/7). Laboratory results showed that the white blood cell count in all patients was not increased. However, many patients presented with high C-reactive protein level (9 cases), abnormal liver function (9 cases) and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (8 cases). The median detection time of positive blood culture was 69 h (ranged 48 - 110 h). Seven patients had good prognosis, 4 patients continued to receive treatment due to complications, 2 patients failed to follow-up, and 1 patient died before the diagnosis was confirmed of the 14 patients.Conclusions:The clinical manifestations of brucellosis are complex, and detailed epidemiological history should be documented during clinical diagnosis to avoid misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis. Microbiologists should master the microbiological characteristics of Brucella, and improve differential diagnosis capabilities.