Deep vein thrombosis as a rare complication of brucellosis

Brucellosis can involve almost any organ system and may present with a broad spectrum of clinical presentations. In this study, we present a case of deep vein thrombosis due to human brucellosis.

A 15- year old boy presented with acute pain and swelling in his left thigh in June 2011, when he complained of fever, chills and lower extremity pain in which he could barely walk. In family history, his older brother had brucellosis 3 weeks ago and appropriate medication was given. The tubal standard agglutination test (wright test) and 2ME test were positive (in a titer of 1/1280 and 1/640, respectively). Peripheral venous doppler ultrasound of left lower extremity showed that common iliac, femoral, external iliac, superficial and deep femoral vein and popliteal vein were enlarged and contained with echogenous clot. He was treated with rifampicin 600 mg once a day, doxycycline 100 mg twice a day (both for three months) and amikacin 500 mg twice a day (for 2 weeks) accompanied with anti-coagulant. Ten days after the onset of this treatment, thrombophlebitis was cured. The follow up of the patient showed no abnormality after approximately one year later.

In brucellosis endemic areas, the clinicians who encounter patients with deep vein thrombosis and current history of a febrile illness, should consider the likelihood of brucellosis.