Journal of Clinical and Experimental Investigations

Abstract

Objectives: We intended to examine 541 brucellosis cases by offering our experiences regarding this preventable infectious disease that is significant for our country.
Methods: We evaluated 1210 hospitalized patients between the dates of January 2006 and December 2010 in Siirt General Hospital and 541 brucellosis cases were reviewed retrospectively. Patients with Rose Bengal plate test positive and has Wright agglutination test a titer of 1:160 or higher were included in this study.
Results: A 53.6% of brucellosis cases were male and 46.4% were female. The mean age (±SD) of patients was 41.23±2.7 years. Between the ages 31 and 50 is the range brucellosis is most commonly encountered in both men and women. Hematological evidence discovered that for 67% of patient’s sedimentation is 20-40 mm/hour, 53% leukocyte count is in normal range, 36% of patients had leukocytosis, 10% had leukopenia, and 8% had thrombocytopenia. Most common three symptoms were joint pain (90%), myalgia (75%) and fatigue (70%). The most involved systems were musculoskeletal (28%), hematological (22%), and gastrointestinal systems (20%). Most commonly encountered systemic findings were sacroiliitis (20%), anemia (14%) and liver dysfunction (12%). Brucella was observed most commonly is May (30%) in Siirt. A 47% of our cases are occupied in agriculture and stockbreeding that are risky occupations regarding brucellosis, supports the conventional data regarding brucellosis epidemiology.
Conclusion: Despite the campaigns, infection rate is still high and it affects both animal industry and human health in our country. Data about brucellosis should be validated by large multicenter studies.