• Eastern India
• human brucellosis
• outcome
• relapse
• rheumatic

• Brucellosis
• Childhood
• Incidence
• Risk factors
• Spatiotemporal distribution

• Brucellosis/epidemiology
• Child
• Humans
• China/epidemiology
• Child, Preschool
• Adolescent
• Infant
• Spatio-Temporal Analysis
• Incidence
• Infant, Newborn
• Animals
• Bayes Theorem
• Male
• Female
• Risk Factors
• Sheep

• No. 202201181 Medical Science and Technology Project of Health
• 2021CG0032 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Project
• YKD2022ZD014 Key Project of Inner Mongolia Medical University
• NMGIRT2303 Inner Mongolia Higher Education Institutions Innovation Project
• he Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Major Project

• Zoonotic disease
• animal handlers
• brucellosis
• seroprevalence

Brucellosis is endemic in India with seropositivity rates as high as 10% in children in the eastern states, yet the disease is not on the radar when a differential diagnosis of pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO) is being considered, especially in children in urban set-up. This may be because of the non-specific multitude of systemic symptoms seen in this disease and the lack of awareness among clinicians.

We present a case of a 13-year-old boy, who came with a history of undulating fever for the past three and a half months, loss of appetite, and abdominal pain. The child had visited several pediatricians and was even admitted to a tertiary care hospital for PUO evaluation, but to no avail. He presented to us after three and half months of suffering and weight loss of more than 10% of body weight. His ultrasonography revealed thickening of the terminal ileum. His blood culture grew Brucella melitensis. A diagnosis of Brucellosis with terminal ileitis was made. Brucella serology by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) was positive for both IgG and IgM. He was treated with doxycycline and Rifampicin along with syrup multivitamin and zinc, for 6 wk. There was remarkable improvement with gain in 4 kg body weight within 2 mo of completing treatment. History revealed consumption of unpasteurized milk and contact with cattle.

Clinical suspicion, detailed history, appropriate laboratory investigations are the three pillars for diagnosing Brucellosis in patients presenting with vague symptoms.

• Pyrexia of unknown origin
• Terminal ileitis
• Brucellosis
• Case report

• Brucella
• brucellosis
• diagnosis
• prevalence
• review

• bacteremia
• blood culture
• brucellosis
• children

• Auxiliary diagnosis
• Childhood brucellosis
• Laboratory test
• Osteoarticular infections
• Western China

Childhood brucellosis and malaria are co-endemic febrile illnesses in some sub-Saharan African countries. Malaria and brucellosis co-infection or brucellosis sole infections are often missed due to an over emphasis on malaria and the lack of appropriate diagnostic infrastructure. Brucellosis in dogs is usually overlooked and yet there is extensive contact between humans and their pets.

This study investigated brucellosis in children and dogs using a confirmatory serological testing series that screens for three Brucella sp.

Residual blood samples from malaria smear-negative febrile children were collected and tested for Brucella sp and malaria parasite. During the same period, residual blood samples presented to a veterinary microbiology laboratory in the same area were tested for brucellosis using the same approach.

A total of 105 human and 80 canine blood samples were tested for brucellosis antibodies. The seroprevalence of brucellosis was 22.86% (25/105) in children and 1.3% (1/80) in dogs using the Card, buffered acidified plate antigen, and standard plate agglutination tests but was 0% using the rivanol precipitation plate agglutination test.

Given that brucellosis can be caused by both smooth and rough colony strains, there is a need to modify the current serological surveillance strategy (targeted at only Brucella abortus and other smooth colony Brucella strains) to figure out the relative contribution of rough colony Brucella strains (B. ovis and B. canis). Since Uganda is endemic for brucellosis there is a need to modify the brucellosis surveillance strategy.

• brucellosis
• diagnostics
• febrile illness
• malaria
• serology

Objectives 

Childhood brucellosis is a common public health problem in developing countries. The diagnosis of brucellosis based on nonspecific symptoms is an ongoing problem for physicians, especially in endemic areas. In this study, it is aimed to discuss the efficacy of frequently used test methods in the differential diagnosis of brucellosis.

Methods

The records of 332 patients admitted to pediatric clinic on suspicion of brucellosis were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with brucellosis were included in the positive group (n = 262) and those without brucellosis were included in the negative group (n = 70).

Results

 As a result of biochemical analysis of the cases, median alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C reactive protein (CRP) values were significantly higher in the positive group than that in the negative group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between median white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, hemoglobin, and platelet values between groups (p>0.05). Receiver operating curves were plotted to compare predictive values of CRP (area under curve (AUC): 0.635, p= 0.001), ESR(AUC:0.701, p<0.001), AST(AUC: 0.595, p=0.015), ALT(AUC:0.604, p=0.007), and GGT(AUC:0.593, p=0.016) in 332 patients with suspected brucellosis.

Conclusions

Increased levels of AST, ALT, GGT, CRP, and ESR may have a complementary role in the differential diagnosis of childhood brucellosis. However, all of these markers should be evaluated with clinical findings due to their low specificity and sensitivity. 

• brucellosis
• c reactive protein
• differential diagnoses
• erythrocyte sedimentation rate

Brucellar spondylodiscitis, the most prevalent and significant osteoarticular presentation of human Brucellosis, is difficult to diagnose and usually yields irreversible neurologic deficits and spinal deformities. However, no animal models of Brucellar spondylodiscitis exist, allowing for preclinical investigations. The present study investigated whether intraosseous injection of attenuated Brucella melitensis vaccine into rabbits' lumbar vertebrae imitates the radiographic and histopathological characteristics of human Brucellar spondylodiscitis. Radiographic and histopathological analyses at 8 weeks postoperatively revealed radiographic changes within vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs, abscesses formation within the paravertebral soft tissue, and typical prominent inflammation response without caseous necrosis, which were largely comparable to human Brucellar spondylodiscitis. Such a medium-sized, surgically feasible rabbit model provides a promising in vivo setting for further preclinical investigation of Brucellar spondylodiscitis.