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BACKGROUND; Brucellosis is a zoonotic infection caused bacteria genus Brucella. Brucellosis
causes more than 500,000 infections per year worldwide and presents and remains one of the most
under diagnosed febrile diseases. It is endemic throughout the Mediterranean rim, Middle East,
Asia and Africa. It can be asymptomatic, acute or chronic affecting multiple systems in the body
with variety of symptoms and complications that resemble other diseases.
The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and clinical presentation of human
brucellosis among patients attended at KCMC hospital from January 2014 to May 2016. Also to
asses treatment of brucellosis during that period.
METHODS: The study was a cross sectional descriptive hospital based study to determine the
prevalence of brucellosis. Data was obtained from the KCMC clinical laboratory database and
clinical details were extracted from files of patients who presented with brucellosis from January
2014 to May 2016 at KCMC hospital. Data was entered in excel then will be transferred in SPSS
version 20. Proportion of symptoms according to gender and age together with treatment were
analyzed. Frequencies and percentages were presented in tables.
RESULTS: A total population of 1911 patients who attended at KCMC hospital from January
2014 May 2016 were tested for brucellosis, where 172 patients were diagnosed to have brucellosis.
In this study prevalence of brucellosis was 6.2%, females consisted of 72.3% of all cases and the
age group mostly affected was 25-59 years (65%). Most common symptoms reported were fever
(38.7%), malaise (37%), arthralgia (31.1%) and headache (27.7%). Severe complications were
uveitis (6%), meningitis (0.8%), pneumonia (0.8%), septicemia (0.8%) and convulsions. Only 54%
of brucellosis patients received proper treatment.
CONCLUSION: This study shoes that brucellosis is a common disease in our setting which
present with wide variety of symptoms and capable of causing serious complications. Management
and treatment of brucellosis at KCMC is still a challenge and efforts should be made to improve
the situation. |
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