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Brucellosis

William D. Smith, MD and Evan Shawler, MD Reviewed 06/2022
 


BASICS

DESCRIPTION

  • Systemic granulomatous bacterial infection caused by Brucella sp.

  • Causes febrile illness, characterized by intermittent or irregular fevers and night sweats (undulant fever). Symptoms...

DIAGNOSIS

HISTORY

  • Nonspecific systemic febrile illnesses 

  • Fever (often high, undulant—increased in afternoon and evening) (93%)

  • Myalgia (91%)

  • Night sweats (87%)

  • Back pain and arthralgia (86%)

  • Headache (81%)

  • ...

TREATMENT

GENERAL MEASURES

  • Report cases to local public health department

  • Supportive care

  • In milk-related or occupational outbreaks, case surveillance and public health reporting

  • Bed rest during febrile p...

ONGOING CARE

FOLLOW-UP RECOMMENDATIONS

Patient Monitoring

  • Routine serologic testing is not generally useful for patient monitoring or guiding duration of therapy, particularly in endemic areas 

  • If serolo...

REFERENCES

1
Yagupsky P, Morata P, Colmenero JD. Laboratory diagnosis of human brucellosis. Clin Microbiol Rev. 201913;33(1):e00073-19. doi: 10.1128/CMR.00073-19. PMID: 31722888; PMCID: PMC6860005.
2
Man...

ADDITIONAL READING

  • Bukhari EE. Pediatric brucellosis. An updated review for the new millennium. Saudi Med J. 2018;39(4):336–341. doi: 10.15537/smj.2018.4.21896.

  • ...

SEE ALSO

CODES

ICD10

  • A23.9 Brucellosis, unspecified

  • A23.8 Other brucellosis

  • A23.0 Brucellosis due to Brucella melitensis

  • A23.2 Brucellosis due to Brucella suis

  • A23.1 Brucellosis due to Brucella abortus

  • A23.3 Brucell...

CLINICAL PEARLS

  • Brucellosis is challenging to diagnose and is a reportable disease.

  • Brucellosis is characterized by intermittent or irregular fevers, with symptoms ranging from subclinical disease to i...

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