Overview of neurobrucellosis: a pooled analysis of 187 cases

Central nervous system involvement is a serious complication of brucellosis; data found in the literature are generally restricted to case reports and case series. In this study we pooled the data from Turkish medical practice in order to gain a thorough understanding of the subject. A search of Turkish publications on chronic neurobrucellosis was made using both Turkish and international databases. A total of 35 publications were analyzed and 187 neurobrucellosis cases were evaluated. Headache, fever, sweating, weight loss, and back pain were the predominant symptoms, while meningeal irritation, confusion, hepatomegaly, hypoesthesia, and splenomegaly were the most frequent findings. The major complications in patients were cranial nerve involvement, polyneuropathy/radiculopathy, depression, paraplegia, stroke, and abscess formation. Antibiotics were used in different combinations and over different intervals. The duration of antibiotic therapy reported ranged from 2 to 15 months (median 5 months). The mortality was 0.5% with suitable antibiotics. Neurobrucellosis may mimic various pathologies. For this reason, a thorough evaluation of the patient with probable disease is crucial for an accurate diagnosis and proper management of the disease.