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Updated: Jun 10, 2026
Microscopy-based Assays for High-throughput Screening of Host Factors Involved in Brucella Infection of Hela Cells
Published on: August 5, 2016
Brucellosis serology in HIV-infected patients
Alireza Abdollahi1, Afsaneh Morteza, Omid Khalilzadeh
1Division of Pathology, Imam Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. dr_p_abdollahi@yahoo.com
Background:
An accelerated evolution of HIV to AIDS has been reported with brucellosis co-infection. The seroprevalence of brucellosis co-infection with HIV has not been investigated in a brucellosis endemic country like Iran.
Methods:
We performed a cross-sectional survey of brucellosis serology in HIV-infected patients attending a university hospital, as well as in healthy controls. A total of 90 HIV-positive patients and 100 healthy age-matched controls were recruited. The clinical characteristics, hemoglobin, and red blood cell, platelet, white blood cell, and CD4+ T cell counts were evaluated.
Results:
Positive brucellosis serology was significantly higher in HIV-infected patients than in controls (73.3% vs. 30%, respectively, odds ratio 6.42, p<0.001). It was also higher in males than females, p=0.001. Brucellosis-infected patients had significantly lower hemoglobin and white blood cell counts compared with brucellosis-uninfected patients (p<0.001). In HIV-positive patients, white blood cell count was significantly lower in brucellosis-infected than brucellosis-uninfected patients (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
Our findings show that brucellosis infection is an important infection in HIV-infected patients. The treatment of brucellosis may be of great clinical importance in the management of HIV infection in a brucellosis endemic country like Iran.
