[Brucellosis at a tertiary hospital. Retrospective epidemiologic study of 166 cases]

The epidemiologic polls concerning 166 cases of brucellosis are retrospectively analyzed; the cases are registered by the Preventive Medicine Service of Miguel Servet Hospital for five years (1980-1985). Most of our cases are of recent evolution, although 55% began to give symptoms more of 2 weeks ago and 30% more of 1 month ago. A clear annual increase of the number of cases, fundamentally of the male sex and patients coming from the rural areas, is observed. The percentage of cases in men (73.5%) is almost three times as those in women (26.5%), and the most numerous groups are the 20-29 interval age group and olders above 60. There is a small percentage of people with a professional risk factor (30.1%), which rise, slightly, for the ones who told of contact with cattle (39.2%) and rose up to 53.6% for the ones who consumed non controlled dairy products. However, in 23% of men and 40.9% of women the existence of some risk factors was unknown.