Unusual complication of breast implants: Brucella infection

Brucellosis is hyperendemic in Saudi Arabia. We report infection in a breast implant as an unusual complication of laboratory-acquired brucellosis. A 48-year-old female developed fever, rigors, headache, arthralgia and weight loss. A blood culture for Brucella was positive. A 6-week course of antibiotics effected a clinical and bacteriological cure but the resolution was short-lived. Six weeks later a relapse of her febrile symptoms occurred together with the appearance of a breast abscess. Cultures of the abscess and blood yielded brucella. A second course of antibiotics together with surgical drainage and subsequent reconstruction resulted in a cure.