Brucellosis in childhood

Abstract

Objective: Brucellosis is still an important infectious disease, being widespread as endemic and sporadic cases in Turkey. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical and laboratory findings, treatment modalities and final outcomes of brucellosis in children.Material and Methods: This is a retrospective record review of all patients 0-18 years of age with brucellosis admitted during a 8-year period between January 2003 and September 2010.Results: Of the 62 patients, 39 (63%) were male. The mean age and standard deviation of patients was 120 +/- 51.7 months (4 months-18 years). Most common symptoms on admission were fever (88%), arthralgia (64%) and dizziness (19%). On physical examination, the findings and percentages were as follows; arthritis (29%), lymphadenopathy (25%), hepatomegaly (24%) and splenomegaly (17%). Fiftyone percent of the patients had high sedimentation rate, 41% had high transaminase levels, and 40% had positivity for C-Reactive Protein. Brucella agglutination tests were positive in all cases. Brucella spp. was isolated from blood cultures in 27% of the cases. All of the cases were given combined drug therapy. Three of the cases (4.8%) had relapses during the follow up period. No mortality was seen in patients with brucellosis.Conclusion: Childhood brucellosis remains an important public health problem in our country. It may cause serious complications in children, and treatment with at least two antibiotics for not less than six weeks appears to be effective.