Diagnostic Approach to Brucellosis

Satish Gupte,Tanveer Kaur

doi:10.4172/2329-891x.1000e109

Abstract

Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonosis with a high degree of morbidity in humans. According to WHO data about 500,000 cases of this disease are registered in the world every year [1,2]. The presence of brucellosis in India was first established early in the previous century and since then has been reported from almost all states [3]. It is mainly transmitted from cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and camels through direct contact with blood, placenta, fetuses or uterine secretions, or through consumption of contaminated raw animal products (especially unpasteurized milk and soft cheese). Furthermore, brucellosis is the most common bac terial laboratory-acquired infection worldwide [4]. The disease primarily presents as fever of unknown origin with multiple clinical signs and symptoms. Patients regularly suffer serious focal complications such as spondylitis, neurobrucellosis or Brucella endocarditis [5]. The clinical picture is not specific and laboratory testing should support the diagnosis. Presumptive diagnosis of brucellosis can be made by the use of several serological tests to Brucella antibodies, but the “gold standard” remains isolation and identification of the bacterium. Despite the vigorous attempt for more than one century to come up with a definitive diagnostic technique for brucellosis, diagnosis still relies on the combination of several tests to avoid false negative results [6]. Certain newer molecular techniques have also been introduced for the diagnosis of brucellosis.

Highlights

Satish Gupte* and Tanveer Kaur Department of Microbiology, Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital, Rajpura, India
Presumptive diagnosis of brucellosis can be made by the use of several serological tests to Brucella antibodies, but the “gold standard” remains isolation and identification of the bacterium
Despite the vigorous attempt for more than one century to come up with a definitive diagnostic technique for brucellosis, diagnosis still relies on the combination of several tests to avoid false negative results [6]

Summary

Introduction

Presumptive diagnosis of brucellosis can be made by the use of several serological tests to Brucella antibodies, but the “gold standard” remains isolation and identification of the bacterium. The Rose Bengal Plate Agglutination test (RBT) is a rapid test which was designed originally for screening use in veterinary medicine, but is often used for the diagnosis of human brucellosis [7]. The combination of positive rose Bengal test and Coombs’ test ≥ 1/320 was the best diagnostic criterion with 80% specificity and 100% sensitivity.

Results

Conclusion